Zeal
by Ally Le Fey
Summary: Post X3, Spoiler Warning. After the battle of Alcatraz John wakes up in a medical area that's all too familiar. Relationships are complicated enough when you don't have superhuman powers, and now the brotherhoods being run by a giggly ball of energy.
1. World's Worst Migraine

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, the characters, or the plots brought in by X3.

A/N: This was the first thread on my RPG. Between me and on of my good RP buddies. The RPG is still sort of new and we're lacking quite a few members! If you want to join go ahead and check out the link under my profile.

John's eyelids flickered open and a moan escaped his lips. "My head... what the hell..." The teen mumbled on and shut his eyes as he gently rested his right hand on his forehead. "Ow..." He grumbled and tried to open his eyes again, but wherever he was it was too white and too bright for his head. "What happened?" He questioned no one imparticular, but the memories from Alcatraz were coming back. "Magneto?" He questioned quietly and decided, as a massive jolt of pain entered his head, that he was done talking.

John had no idea where he was, how he had got there, where Magneto was or anything that had happened after the fight with Bobby. He was also beginning to wonder how long he'd been out, and if he was dead... He'd lost a fight to Iceman and death sounded really nice at that very moment.

A faint swish of the sliding doors indicated the entrance of the Institute's new Headmistress. Her shoes clicked ever so lightly against the tilted floor as the elegant woman approached the hospital bed the young pyro was currently occupying.

She had spent a better part of her early years here. When ever she got into a fight during her outings, Xavier had always dragged her down here so that Jean could check on her for any serious injuries. She usually had none, but an occasional broken wrist. During her time down here, she managed to pick up a few things from Jean. Therefore, she was able to move around the medical room with ease.

"How do you feel?" Came the soothing voice of Ororo Monroe, when she reached the occupied hospital Gurney.

John was instantly sitting straight up with a defensive look on his face, and a wince that came with the sudden movement of his head. "Where the hell am I?" He snapped and glowered at his former teacher, but of course there was no point in asking. It was fairly obvious. He didn't even want to know why Magneto hadn't taken him rather than his former school.

"Relax John," Ororo told him calmly, and noticed his wince. She moved from his side to retrieve a bottle of painkillers, and a glass of water. "You were unconscious and I have Piotr bring you on the jet so that you received the proper care."

She wanted him to relax. John merely stared her in the eye until she left his side for the medicine. The teen pulled his knees up to rest his elbows on them and let his face fall into his hands. "Why didn't you just leave me there?" He moaned into his hands. He could hear running water, and wondered if he was thirsty...

She collected the painkillers from a cupboard above a sink on the far side of the room, and filled a white paper cup with lukewarm water. She took three small tanned pills from the bottle, made her way back to John's side with the pills and cup of water. She handed them to John. "Here."

Suddenly Ororo's voice broke into his thoughts, before he'd managed to determine if he was hungry or thirsty, and he glanced over at her. John arched an eyebrow at the gesture and stared at her in a defiant yet exhausted manner. He wasn't a student here... and he wasn't going to take orders from her, and he didn't even really want to be polite about any of it. Not that Ororo had implied she thought that way about any of this, but he vaguely wondered if she thought of him as a mutant or a student. Perhaps to her he could be both... but not to him.

He took the water and the painkillers without a word to her, and he downed both of them before tossing the crumpled cup to the floor. After a moment he rolled his neck and glanced over at her. "What happened. Where's Magneto?" The aggitated pyromaniac questioned and stared her straight in the eye. No way in hell was he going to accept a 'John you need rest we'll tak about this later' or 'why don't you have something to eat and then we can discuss everything.'

_"Why didn't you just leave me there?"_

He had asked her while she was busy getting the painkillers and water, but she didn't answer his question. She was about too, but then chose against. Because we don't leave others behind. Wouldn't have been a proper answer, but they have left someone behind, because they had thought that she was dead, and she came back, angry and vengeful.

She knew that he wouldn't listen to if she told him that they'd speak later, that his health was most important at the moment. She had been his teacher at one point after all. Brown eyes stared back at him, as she answered his question.

"Magneto lost his mutation during the fight, and lost the battle." She told him and then paused, her eyes swirled white fort only a moment before turning brown again. She had to keep it together; she had to keep her emotions to herself. "Jean appeared to be the only one left standing on Magneto's side. She was a threat to mutant and man kind. Logan killed her."

John's eyes held complete and utter confusion and behind that confusion, dancing around the edges of his eyes, was a cold desperate fear. Jean was dead, and Logan had killed her, that was horrible, but... He looked away from Storm, hoping she hadn't seen his fear.

After staring at his hands for a while John started frantically looking around the room. His wrist jets weren't on... "My... Am I... I mean... my power..." He kept trailing off, half of him not even wanting an answer. He took in a shaky breath and grit his teeth, staring hard at the metal table he was on. This couldn't be happening...

Ororo watched him panic when he noticed that his wrist jets weren't on. "I am afraid that Robert broke them during your fight, but you still have your powers." She told him, calmly.

She moved to pick up the crumbled paper cup he had thrown to the floor and tossed it into a waste basket nearby.

Any other day John would have had a near tantrum over the loss of his jets. Instead he let out a quick sigh, not wanting to look too overly relieved in front of Ororo, and looked over at her. His zippo was somewhere in a pair of jeans... most likely at the camp site. He messed around with it every so often, but it wasn't usually on him anymore. He could just go to the old camp site and find it.

John had seen flashes of things throughout the battle, but he couldn't follow just one thing when a war was raging on all sides. "Callisto?" He questioned, and mentally decided to somehow get revenge on Bobby; not knowing anything that had happened in a war that you had been a key player in was very annoying. Then he realized Ororo probably didn't know her name. "I mean, the girl you were fighting... sort of super speed?" He added in an indecisive voice, for he had mainly known her powers for sensing out other mutants.

"Did any of the brotherhood make it off Alcatraz, other than me?" He asked and glanced around again. The painkillers were helping, but he was still very stressed out and couldn't even flick the slightest fire to calm himself... dmn Bobby.

"Dead." The Weather Witch answered him solemnly when he asked her about Callisto. The fact that she had killed the other woman with a bolt of lightening didn't seem to bother her. It wasn't like she hasn't killed before. But that had been an accident she'd rather forget.

"I'm not sure. We didn't have a whole lot of time to get everyone of the island." She answered his last question. Jean had to be stopped, and that had been their main priority.

"Then I guess I should feel lucky." John replied dryly and pulled several things off his chest; the machine going out and claiming its patient dead as he did so. He noted her lack of regret on Callisto's death and something about it annoyed him. Callisto hadn't exactly been a lifelong friend, but nor had he put her in the 'team mate' category with all the other mutants he cared nothing about.

"So, Cyclops in charge now?" He questioned with an eyebrow raised. If it was true he'd be out of their in seconds, but he couldn't remember seeing Scott or his trademark red blasts during the battle.

Her brown eyes clouded with sorrow momentarily before she covered her face with an emotional mask once more. Scott had been a good friend, and she missed him as much as she did Jean and Xavier. "No." She answered him, her voice controlled. "I am."

"I'd like to become an X-Men." John said with a cautious look in his eye, and another glance around the room. _I don't suppose Logan'll let me borrow a lighter... _He thought and sighed.

The teen wondered if he'd even be allowed to stay at the mansion, never mind become an official X-men. John was far more advanced in his powers than he had been when he left, but not quite so much as he could have been. The fight with Bobby had made that very clear.

His words at surprised her. She hadn't expected that coming from him. She had expected him to leave and find what was left of the Brotherhood. She nodded her head at him. "I'll set up a danger room session with the others that you'll be able to join, so that I can see how well you'll work on defense and offense." She paused momentarily before added, "And how well you work on a team."

John gave her a slight smirk. She had seem somewhat surprised, for an instant. Most of her emotions seemed to last for mere seconds, but Storm's well being wasn't any concern of his.

The teen hopped off the table and placed his hands on the back of his neck to stretch, glancing around for a shirt as he did so. "Bobby was always the smart one outta the two of us..." He muttered, and finished his stretching by cracking his neck left and right.

He was referring ot the fact that Bobby had stayed in school, but up until a couples weeks ago he had believed entirely in what Magneto was doing. The beginning of his doubts had started when they left Mystique, continued when the took Phoenix and kept her with them at camp, furthered themselves when he decided to use the cure against other mutants as an offense, and finalized when he'd sent so many mutants willing to follow him to their almost instant defeats as 'pawns'. Magneto was human now, and for that reason he didn't even have the option to stay with the once all-powerful leader. John doubted he would have even if he still possessed his powers.

"I don't even need a team." John pointed out with an arrogant smirk. "But I'll play nice." He added in the same tone. "What happened to all my stuff?" He questioned and wondered if it had been tossed out, packed away, given away, or maybe by some miracle still sat where it had when he'd left. He also wondered if him and Bobby were still gonna be roommates...

Ororo narrowed her eyes at John when he told her that he didn't need a team. "The X-Men work together, John. As a team, remember that." She told him, her voice firm. Wasn't she lucky? She had two members on her team who played individually. Maybe she could work something out with both the Wolverine and Pyro.

"We didn't know what you planned on doing after you woke up, but we have set up an extra bedroom for you, just incase." She told him. "Your stuff is there."

"Thank you." John said curtly and headed for the door. He had walked around the mansion in merely his jeans a few times before, when he'd been too lazy to simply throw his shirts into the laundry, and he had no problem doing so now. If his stuff was up in his spare room then up in his spare room he would go.

The teen reached the door and turned aroud. "Ms. Munroe, where exactly is my room?" He questioned and raised an eyebrow. He mentally cursed himself for the use of her name, but figured old habits died hard. Sure she was still going to be his teacher, but calling her 'Storm' seemed more suitable.

"Second floor, fifth room from the staircase, on the right." The Weather Witch recalled. She moved toward a few of the machinery that John had been on and turned them off. She rolled them back to their proper place in the room.

John nodded and exited the room. Being back at the mansion was probably gonna be a little weird, but he knew now that the people here were better to live with. Magneto had dropped Mystique, his long time second in command, as soon as she was human and right after she'd saved him from the same fate no doubt.

Having someone he could count on had always been weird for John, but at the same time it was oddly comforting.

Ororo brushed her short hair back, and remained standing in the Med. Lab. She glanced around the room and sighed as she remembered the time she had spent down here when she was still a student here. She missed those days. She turned toward the automatic sliding door and left.

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So that's just one thread, like I said earlier the first one of the board, but I thought we both did a fairly nice job with it and I'd be more than happy to have anyone of you join the board. At least I'll know someone from fanfiction can spell, lol.

Reviews are also welcome.

Ally


	2. Siblings At First Sight

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, the characters, or the plots brought in by X3.

SCUZE ME: This story is from my RPG board Zeal. Every single chapter is written by more than one person. An RPG is like a story written by several different people, where each character is controlled by a single person. Though an author may control more than one character, a character is never controlled by more than one author.

Now with that said its time to thank youz people for your reviews

Ryan628: Hopefully the RPG keeps going for a long time. I dunno, we're still waiting for our Bobby to have enough time to start RPing with us, but I also am apprehensive on what will happen with that. We have yet to see a Gambit, but I'm pleased to inform you that Jubilee is slowly making her way into the story.

scarlet-child: lol, she hasn't officially let him in yet. We still await th scary training session, it should be funny seeing how the team thing works. I'm sure many-a-lectures will come during that time.

shortbutlethal: Aw! I'm touched. So glad you like it.

gymgurl: Alright, alright I'm convinced. I'll continue to put stuff up. Lol, thanks for your review.

SqueakyLittleKettle: lol. It's not gonna stay a non-romance. Originally I was just gonna put that one part up, but since its been such a big hit I guess I'll keep going with it, and Romance will probably bloom all over the place. I just wanted to point out to possible readers that it was a Storm/Pyro romance since they were the main characters of that last one.

ana: Glad you like it, and the wonderful reviews have convinced me to keep going with this.

Yuki-Shuichi-chan: Lucky you! I got your review as I was updating so you just made it into the thank you's! I love John too. He also be my fave. Update soon? How's ten minutes from your review? Lol

Alright I want to thank all of you very much. I wasn't in the best of moods when I got on today but with all the wonderful reviews and encouragement I'm glad I did.

NOW ON WITH THE STORY. lmao, this made me laugh so hard. I'm sure you all remember Juggernaut, and an old firey friend is also poppin' in. So let's get on with it. Juggernaut's style of writing is slightly confusing, but completely halarious, so bear with us!

Amara was walking along the streets of, New York, tapping the fingers on her right hand on the side of her right leg, at about 10 at night. She had a sort of hop in her step. It wasn't a happy hop, it was more of an annoyed hop.  
They'd lost the fight. That's what she'd been saying over and over in her head. She wasn't going anywhere in particular, and she wasn't about to go back to the institution begging to come back. They'd wanted to help the poeple who'd wanted to so called "cure" them.

She sighed and felt a small flame in between her left fingers and palm. This whole thing had angered her and that is probably what triggered it. She hadn't been aware of the flames these past five minutes, until now. She let out a low growl and then punched her fist at a near by lamp post, but pulled her hand back as it hit the lamp and started shaking her hand. Her knuckles were still sort of raw, so it hurt to hit something hard. Luckly the post hadn't caught fire or anything. It was slightly melted in the spot where she'd punched it, but it wasn't that bad.

She turned around as she heard a man behind her gasp, rather rudely in her opinion. "What?" she said glowering at him. The man simply turned up his nose and continued on his walk home. "That's right buddy, keep walkin'..." she mumbled and continued to walk. Humans were just wonderful wern't they?

"When I find that lil kid i'm goming to crush her in my hands!" Juggernauts head was still ringing from running into the wall. "God I need an aspirin." Juggernaut walked up to a store and punches a wall knocking it to the ground. he walks over to the medicine section and grabs a bottle. As he walked out of the store a clerk came around the corner and asked. " You gonna pay for that?" Juggernaut laughed "Think of it as me making your door bigger for ya"

Juggernaut was holding his head as he left. "AHH! I swear I'll kill that little kid when i see her again." Juggernaut sat down on a bench outside the store. it crushes under his weight. " Damn it! Can't this humans make a good seat." Juggernaut stays on the ground. As he open the asprin he rips off the top half of the bottle.

" God i hate medicine." As he ate the asprin left in the bottle " I gotta find what's left of the brotherhood." Juggernaut gets up and starts down the street.

As he continued walking down the street he came across a melted street lamp."Looks like Magma has been here." He laughed as he walked by. Juggernaut stops in the middle of the street and thinks to himself. " I know one of them is still around i gotta find her and get back to the camp site." Juggernaut begins his search while watching out for those X-men. " God i hope I find one of those bloody x-men. I need to get warmed up soon no more games time for some pain!" Juggernaut takes off down the street a full speed " Wonder how much trouble I can get in?" He laughs as he runs through a red light knocking cars into the air and crushing them under his feet.

"Oh does that mean stop?" Juggernaut continues to laugh as he heads down the street. He can hear police sirens in the background. " Here piggy piggy!" Juggernaut screams as he barrels down the street. A cop car Slides around a coner infront of Juggernaut " Four!" Juggernaut laughing as he grabs a street lamp and whacks the cop car like a golf ball down the street. The cops inside can be heard for blocks screaming as they fly into a building

Amara turned around abruptly, hearing loud crashes and the sound of a certain brotherhood member's laugh. After a little while of jogging she found Juggernaut smashing cop cars and what not. "_Typical..._" she thought to herself and then waited for him to be done with his demolition work.

She waited until he was finished and then ran and jumped locking her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist giving his a big hug. "JUGGY, YOU LIVED!" she yelled happily, "I hear voices and they said they missed you!" she hopped down a few seconds later and flattened her leather jacket back down and then looked back up at him.

"Where is everyone? What happened? What did I miss? Where's John?" Amara blurted out with all of a sudden. She deserved answers, and they ought to be good ones.

Juggernaut smiles " Well the last I remember Magneto and Phoenix where Beginning the attack. I ran to go get the cure and kill it and i got to play hide and seek with an x-man but the cure shut of my powers and when i was gonna smash them both I learned that the cure shut off your powers, and had a run in with a wall." Juggernaut see someone moving in an upside down cop car and takes his anger out on the car. " Hold on a sec i gotta go vent to the policeman." He runs up to the car and punts into the sky. "AHHH! I want to find that little brat who got away." Juggernaut turns his attention back to magma.

" I haven't seen John he was with magento when I went after the cure." Juggernaut puts Magma on his shoulder and He looks up at her " When I came to nobody was left and the place was a wreck somebody had all the fun with out me." Juggernaut starts walking down the street. " Lets go to the camp site and see who we run into."

" Hold on Little one." Juggernaut picks up speed and heads toward the camp.

Amara made a confused face through his description and then nodded when he was finished. She was then picked up and placed on his shoulder, so she wrapped her arms around his neck for support.

As Juggernaut gained speed he glanced up " You alright up there?" Juggernaut wanted to take care of his little friend. " I'm heading to the campsite so keep an eye out for falling braches!" Juggernaut laughs as he left the city

Alright it was short but funny. You guys are going to continually notice the changes in writing style, different quirks that weren't there before, and the like. Reason is? Well the multiple writers. We don't all write the same, nobody does, but I hope you'll appreciate what each writer has to add to the story.

My options are somewhat limited, but do you guys have any preference on who you see in the next chapter? Tell me and I'll see what I can do.


	3. Oh Where, Oh Where

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, the characters, or the plots brought in by X3.

SCUZE ME: This story is from my RPG board Zeal. Every single chapter is written by more than one person. An RPG is like a story written by several different people, where each character is controlled by a single person. Though an author may control more than one character, a character is never controlled by more than one author.

A/N: Originally this was two chapters, due to a stupid computer mess up, but I combined them since it made more sense to read.

Now, time for the thanks youz

First, could you all read the Scuze Me note? I'm just not sure if some of youz are getting it.

Yuki-Shuichi-chan: I'll do my best on finding an Angel, anybody interested? The arguments bound to pop up eventually, keep your fingers crossed just incase!

Mari: Yes we have the best Amara in the entire world, and a movie twist of her being evil. It's turning out to be quite a bit of fun.

Rotem: Your wish is my command!

MzPink: Thank yah kindly. X-Men twist is bound to bring complications, oh look here they come.

shortbutlethal: Well, not exactly me doing all the writing, but we are continuing this. I put them up as we finish threads, and those can go on for quite a while. I do update ASAP though.

meghan: There were a major amount of requests for something with Pyro this time around, but she'll be in the next chapter!

scarlet-child: lol, I think Amara agree's with you... or with your coughing fit.

Ryan628: I dunno, that was a major screw up on the directors part if you ask me. The movie rocked though so yah gotta give the guy his props. I don't think it'll be brought in, simply because we're not quite sure how to work out the directors mistake.

Elledreamer: If we started referring to the singular guys as 'X-man' we'd kinda have to bring in 'X-woman' and it would get all confusing. Lol, I was subconsciously doing this so thanks for bringing it to my attention, but it's probably not gonna change. You got your wish! Lol, even before you asked for it. Pyro's views on the whole war are definitely further expressed in this particular chapter.

we-r-the-cure: So glad you like it. Here's an addition to that last chapter you commented on.

Mari: Evil Amara will be pleased to hear of your fanshipness. Lol, and I enjoy writing for John so it's just as fun for me as it is for you, but all the same your welcome.

Rotem: Lotsa John fan's out there huh? Lol, yay is right!

meghan: The next chapter shall further point out John's X-Men intentions.

Elledreamer: Thank you much, though with the shortness of the update I'm not sure I deserve the compliment!

Ryan628: I'm not sure the Cain/Charles thing even applies to the movies, again they left a lot of Juggernaut's character in the dark. So we'll have to see how that pans out. The shortness? UGH NO KIDDING! It completely chopped the chapter to pieces! Grrrr...

Alright no more venting, and sadly no more reviews pout lol, keep um coming guys its quality not quantity! I like the long opinionative reviews guys!

- - - -

NOW! I've thanked you all, and met quite a few suggestions this time around. Lucky me we had this going, here's your next chapter!

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John had left the mansion without telling anyone, and could have cared less if anyone followed him. If he had been in their shoes he would have been suspicious too. The teen made his way through the deep forest with ease; having memorized the clear route after getting lost one night. "Hello?" He called in an apprehensive tone, and froze waiting for an answer. After a minute of silence he entered the camp site.

The tents were merely poles, or branches in some cases, with blankets or tarps draped over the top. He had originally planned on grabbing the lighter and going, but he couldn't help but remember times here before the war. They'd been able to goof off when Magneto was gone; John and the younger members had come up with a game of 'mutant ball' that was like a mix between tag and dodge ball. He remembered the almost constant adrenaline rush while fighting for mutants rights, and against the cure.

The blonde teen made his way over to his tent, one he'd shared with Quill, and starting searching the pockets of all the jeans. The zippo had once been like a security blanket, and walking here without any source of flame had reminded him why.

Juggernaut barreled through the forest and kept a look out for any government agents as he moved toward the camp. He saw a figure in the distance at the site and slowed down. "I want you to wait here. They could be waiting for us here so I'll go 1st." He lowered her off his shoulders. "I have faith in ya kiddo but i can block the cure bullets you can't so i'll be right back"

As he moved toward the camp Juggernaut started to pick up speed and let out a yell "Ready or not here I come!" He rushed by the 1st few tents with no sight of any agents. as He comes closer toward the last few tents He sees a person bent over in front of a tent going through some things.

Amara nodded without saying anything and sat down on a rock. She began to swing her legs back and forth, humming merrily to herself and looking up at the sky.

She was licking a popsicle she'd taken out of some guy's hand on the way here. He hadn't taken a bite or anything yet thankfully.

As Juggernaut speed toward the Figure he realized who it was. "Pyro!" He yelled as he slowed down. " Where the bloody hell have you been?" He asked as he walked up to john. "oh wait a min, Hey Magma get over here it's John!." So What happened at the base john?" Juggernaut wanted to hear since he missed out

Amara was in mid lick when she heard Juggernaut's voice. It was something about John. She got up and ran over to them with the popsicle still in her hand.

Sure enough, right there was John. She had Mr.Fuzzles in one hand and dropped the popsicle that was in the other hand. "You lived too!" She ran up to him and gave him a hug and then stepped back. "Where have you been?" She put a hand on her hip and held Mr.Fuzzles up with the other. "Mr.Fuzzles and I have missed you."

He seemed to be looking for something...

"Sorry about leaving ya back there had to make sure that you where gonna be ok kiddo." Juggernaut rubed Amara on her head. He took off his helmet and his hand stuck to a spot on it. "Hey what's this stuff on my helmet?" Juggernaut looks at Amara. he smells his helmet "I didn't hit a ice cream truck on the way here." Juggernaut laughed a little.

John jumped up and whirled around at the sound of crashing, huge footsteps. He had no way of defending himself and was about to bolt when he heard his name. The teen calmed down and let out a light chuckle, but it was the best laugh one could manage after almost behind run over by a Juggernaut.

Pyro gratefully accepted Juggernaut's second question, fully ready to ignore the first, and smirked as Amara ran toward them. "Hey there short stuff." He greeted and returned the hug. "I missed you to Mr. Fuzzles." He replied and watched the flame with interest. He could have controlled Mr. Fuzzles, but he knew better than to anger the other young pyromaniac. Amara was often joked about as a pyrotic bantam by him and Quill. He was slightly envious that she could create fire, but he could control it for greater lengths and as far he knew she couldn't touch it once it left her hands.

"I don't know what happened at the base, Iceman smacked his thick cold head into mine and I went out like a light." He explained in an annoyed tone, and discarded the jeans. "Oh, except..." He trailed off and looked at the two of them. "You guys heard about Magneto?"

"No what happened to the boss?" Juggernaut knew that wasn't going to be good by the look on his face. Juggernaut reached over and cover amara's ears. He laughed as he did it knowing she would get mad at him. "We need to find the rest of the brotherhood." Juggernaut wanting to get back at the x-men as soon as possible. "Sorry guys can't get it outta my head."

John laughed out loud at Juggernaut's attempt to shield Amara from the horrible news, but then he stopped. Neither of them were probably gonna find this very funny. He went deeper into the tent and fished through another pair of jeans.

"He got hit with the cure." He explained, and wished he'd questioned Ororo more about the nature of how this had happened. John was almost glad about it, and he was fairly sure Mystique had probably danced with joy at the news. "Human." He said blutly, as if this had yet to be made clear.

Juggernaut smashed a boulder near the group. "Damn!" He walked over to John "What are you looking for?" Juggernaut laughs " You just keep pulling out pants. You need new underwear or something?" The massive mutant turned to Amara and picked her up because he felt she upset.

No." John replied flatly and as his hand absently slipped into another pocket it closed around something cold and smooth. "Yes!" He exclaimed, unable to contain the excitement, and pulled out his older trusty jaws zippo.

He could have kissed it; he did kiss it. John smirked, lightly kissed the lighter and smirked some more. He flicked it open and pulled the fire out to dance it around his finger tips. He closed his hand, but made sure to let the flame surround his hand rather than snuff out in his palm.

The teen turned to observe the other two and wondered how he was too make his escape without them noticing. With the three of them as the only current remainder of the brotherhood his odds weren't looking so hot.

"Do you two need to be alone?" Juggernaut asked, trying to make Amara laugh. "So what's the plan should we go look for some more of the members?" Juggernaut walked over toward John with Amara on his shoulder. "So what's the plan boss man?" He asked, and then realized John's acting weird.

"Where were you? You said you got knocked out by Iceman but everyone else who was still on the island was killed . I know why i'm alive but what about you?" He knew John wasn't saying everything. "Out with it man!"

Amara went pale when she heard that Magneto had been cured. She blinked several times, and didn't say anything when she was lifted up onto Juggernaut's shoulders. She helplessly looked around and then over at thr two of them.

She set her hands on her lap, but cupping them so the little Mr.Fuzzles made a little squealing noise, like hot air letting out of a balloon or something and plopping down into the small hands in depression. She rested her head onto of Juggernaut's and looked down at John slightly squinting waiting for his reply.

John raised his eyebrows, noticing Amara's suspicions look, and looked back at Juggernaut. He wondered if it would really be all that hard to outrun a juggernaut. Well he would bob and weave the two of them would be crashing, and possibly flying, after him. Running wasn't gonna work.

"Me?" He asked and pointed to his own chest with a surprised look. Out of a nervous habit he opened up his left hand, formed the fire into a ball in his palm, and then both hands rigid in apprehension for a possible battle.

"I got picked up by some old friends." The teen tried, and for an instant the flame flared up dangerously. "What's it tah you?" He questioned with an arched eyebrow.

Amara lifted her head up and locked her eyes on him and blinked. "You don't mean... them... do you?" She extinguished the little furry flame ball and hopped down from Juggernaut's shoulder with a thud.

She walked over to John's right side and walked in back of him to the other shoulder letting her finger linger along his shoulders. She placed her chin on his shoulder and looked at him. "Is there something you aren't telling me?" She bit her lip. She already knew the answer to that, but she waited anyways.

John gulped and clenched his jaw as her finger trailed along his shoulder, the flame flicked up at her hand out of his nervousness, but thankfully she was one of the few people who would remain unaffected by it. Amara was behind him, and Juggernaut was in front... this could turn out to be the world's first barbecued mutant sandwich.

He turned his head to face her, and his throat went dry. She looked rather upset about his possible answer, and Juggernaut seemed to have taken a big brother attitude with the little fireball. "Yeah. Well you were busy running with your tail between your legs they got me off the island and to safety. I do mean them, and I'm staying with them now." He explained and focused on Amara for her reaction, not really wanting to look at Juggernaut.

She averted her eyes from his and moved her head so she forehead was on his shoulder. _'This isn't happening'_ she told herself. _'You're asleep. Just a bad dream, that's all...' _Though it wasn't a dream at all and she knew it.

She wrapped her arms around his middle and sighed. "You're leaving me?"

"Technically I can't leave you if we weren't going out... but I'm leaving the Brotherhood." John replied and cautiously slipped out of her grasp.

Amara seemed to be rather upset over this whole thing, and he personally wanted to get gone before the whole place was up in flames. Granted he'd be fine, but he was wearing his favorite jacket. "So if you'll excuse me." The teen tried and made to exit the way he'd come in.

"You know that's not what I meant..." Amara crossed her arms and watched him as he walked. "See'ya then..." she said in a shaky voice and plopping herself down onto a rock and resting her head on the tree in back of it continuing to bite her lip. She pressed the palms of her hand to her eyes until the saw stars. She was trying to ignore the world around her for a moment.

"John! we're not done here." Juggernaut grabbed John's shoulder. "Why the sudden change?" Juggernaut asked, wanting more than an 'They took me away' answer. Juggernaut looked over toward Amara then back at John "And look you made Amara upset." Juggernaut, not wanting to let John out of his sights, moved in front of him. "Give me one good reason to let you leave and go join them after you stood by Magneto in the war." He didn't like the fact that John had chosen this route, but if the answers were worth it he wouldn't stand in his way.

"Because you don't have a say in the matter?" John snapped and jerked away from the massive mutant. He didn't make any move to attack Juggernaut, because in all truths at this close range it was suicide.

"If you want a reason, how 'bout Mystique?" He questioned and flicked the lighter open again. "We just left her there. What about all those mutants that loyally stood beside Magneto until he sent them out as pawns right into the cure? I'm leavin' before I'm labeled expendable." He said coldly, thinking back on all the mutants the had lost their gifts by blindly following Magneto.

"On top of all that, they can teach me stuff at the mansion that I can't learn anywhere else. Incase you didn't notice, we got our aes kicked." The teen pointed out and made to walk around Juggernaut. "Those good enough reasons for yah?" He snarled with an irritated look on his face.

Juggernaut Laughed "You're just mad 'cause Iceman knocked you out." Juggernaut moved back in front of John. "And that blue girl? Magneto left her there because she would have died without her powers. The Man had a vison and she wasn't able to be apart of that vison anymore. Like you without your jets would you be able to fight without a flame?" Juggernaut pointed out to John.

"That's why the new Brotherhood will train to master the powers they have." Juggernaut Thought inside his head "Wow did I just say that?" Juggernaut looked at Amara "We have to stand together to bring the Brotherhood in to the new age."

The mutant looked over at Amara again "Well you gonna leave the brotherhood now too?" Juggernaut didn't want to lose both of them on the same day.

"Have fun with that." John replied through gritted teeth and continued on his way out of the camp site. Mystique couldn't have been a part of the battle any more, but she had sure as hell done enough work to remain with the Brotherhood. She'd been with Magnetos group since the beginning, and he'd left her naked in the middle of no where. John's only regret about quitting was that he hadn't done it back then.

"Have fun mastering that, and just a warning. You guy's come at us with that whole 'cure the enemy' approach? I'll have some serious a kicking to do." He said with a smirk and waved. "See'ya Magma, don't get too wrapped up in the dictatorship." The teen warned his friend with a smile. Amara was sweet and could definitely hold her own in a fight, so he wasn't too worried. With only Juggernaut&her here he had been able to walk away, but the bigger they built their army it seemed to him she was simply building a cage around herself.

She gave him a semi smile and waved back at him. She did have to agree with, John on the whole Mystique thing. Plus she was very resourceful and she knew way too much, which wasn't such a good thing to do.

"So...", she said turning her attention to Juggernaut ,"How do we plan on getting the brotherhood back together exactly? I just realized that more than half of those people who fought at the base were either cured or killed. Other than that we're running short." Unless some miracle came raining down upon the, it wasn't going to be an easy task.

Amara stood up and took a few slow steps in front of her, scuffing it so it sparked a fire with every step and then snuffed the small fires with her boot. She shook her head and then added ,"We can't even locate the mutants. Another one of us did that before and they're dead now." So far she wasn't seeing anything good. Yet anyways.

"Maybe if we made a bunch of commotion all over town they'll figure it's us and come to find us?", she thought for a second and then shook her head ,"No, that's not going to work... Mr. Fuzzles? Any suggestions?", she asked turning her head, but the little fuzz ball shook it's little head for a body indicated a 'no'. "Oh, god, someone help us." She rubbed a hand down her face and bit her lip. She was eventually going to get frustrated with all of this and end up either blowing something up or killing someone. Not on purpose anyways...

Juggernaut focused on Amara now. "Hey where are you going?" He asked, and Amara down toward a fire burning.

"Huh?" She said, turning around and looking up at him. "Oh, nowhere. Just thinking..." she bit her lip and began to think again. She hauled herself up onto a branch and sat there thinking for a while.

"What's on your mind?" Juggernaut asked. "Don't go and get all quiet on me now." Juggernaut grabbed the branch she is sitting on. "Wanna see how high I can throw you?" He asked while pulling the branch down, just playing with her to make her laugh.

Juggernaut picked her up off the branch and sat her down. "So down to business we need a leader. You want the job?" Juggernaut knew better than to put himself in that kind of place, if he took over one wrong move by someone he'd blow up and hurt everybody.

Amara laughed and nodded. "Maybe then I can find everyone, and brin 'em back!" she said with a laugh. "Actually, we should go with the 'causing trouble in town' idea. It might be fun..."

Amara's eyes with wide with surprise. "Sure! You can be my assistant."

Juggernaut Laughed. "As long as I can take over every now and again. I think we should hit the city to have a little fun and get john leaving off our mind." Juggernaut stuck out his hand "Piggy back ride to the city for some ice cream?"

Amara giggled and nodded. "Alright. If I go crazy and start killing everything in my path, that's a definite okey also", She grabbed his head and slipped onto his back.

When Juggernaut was sure that Amara was on his shoulders he cut loose and took off for the city. As he left the camp site Juggernaut began to gain speed. "Our first terrorist attack is over ice cream." Juggernaut said with a laugh as he neared the edge of the forest.

Amara laughed at this. It was kinda funny. But at the same time- awesomely sweet. "Just don't hit any branches and we're fine!"

Juggernaut moved through the forest with ease making sure not to hit anything. he looked up at Amara "You like the view?" Juggernaut laughed as he jumped up in the air, barely missing a branch on purpose. As he moved through the last bit of the forest Juggernaut hit full speed. "Hold on Mr. Fuzles, you too Amara!"

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Alright there's another chapter, I tried extra to correct all our spelling/grammer issues in this one since I did practically nothing on the last. Again I apologize for the length of the last chapter, and now the technical issues I've noticed in it's writing. I think I may had two of the same document open and saved the unedited one. I'll be more careful to check the next time around. I thank you all for reviewing regardless of my mistakes and will try to have the next chapter up on Saturday!

Now, review? Pleeease? Pweeease? PRETTY PLEASE WITH PYRO AND ICEMAN AND ANGEL ON TOP? Alright then... I don't own them... just review and make me happy!

A/N: Originally this chapter was somehow chopped in half by the computer and I had to put it up as Part 1 and 2, but all has been fixed.


	4. Nightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men, the characters, or the plots brought in by X3.

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't been updating, but my life has been Mega hectic. I figure you guys would rather have new chapters up than wait for me to catch the time to thank you for all your wonderful reviews. I want you to know how much I do love your reviews, but at the same time I have to choose between thanking you and updating and I think we would all rather have updates.

So if you have an idea or a question or anything you want to pitch with me feel free to say so in your review and I will try my best to get back to you! I'm sorry I didn't get this up sooner. Once I finally got it ready to put up my fanfiction account was all messed up. For the long wait I promise you another chapter this week.

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Rogue sat up in her bed with a startled gasp. Her eyes were wide as she glanced around the darkened room. She took a deep breath to calm herself as she studied her surroundings with the help of some moonlight filtering in through the window. All the other girls were fast asleep...Rogue was still in the mansion.

Taking another deep breath Rogue leaned back against the headboard of her bed, bringing her knees to her chest. It had just been a nightmare. She really wasn't being separated from her parents and sent to a concentration camp for being a Jew. Rogue was still Rogue.

"Ah don't get it," she whispered to herself with tears forming in her eyes. "Why am Ah still havin' nightmares?"

She was cured now. She wasn't a mutant, and yet, the nightmares--the experiences of the mutants she had absorbed once upon a time still haunted her sleep.

David's thoughts still mingled with her own; Logan's past still meshed with hers; Magneto's childhood had become her childhood; and even John's memories were hers.

Rogue didn't understand why she could still feel them inside her head. She had thought taking the cure would have made everyone else running around her mind disappear.

"All Ah want is ta be normal," murmured Rogue as a single tear slid down her cheek. "Why does everythin' hafta feel so wrong?"

John was on his way back to his room, coming from a party in the broncs, and mostly sobered up. He'd only had about three beers, but then there had been some nasty tasting colored stuff that he'd simply had to try.

The teen stumbled down the hallway toward the stairs. He'd realized once someone else had nabbed the elevator that he'd gone a floor too high, but then he heard almost distressed noises and a gasp from one of the older rooms of the institute.

He walked over to the door, steadied himself against the frame and gave it three light taps. "Rogue, you awake?" His murmured and waited. Bursting into someone's room wasn't a hobby of his, so he hoped she'd answer.

A slight tapping at the door shook Rogue from her thoughts. She scrambled out of her bed at the sound of John's voice and over towards the door. She flung it open and hurtled herself into his arms and making them stumble backwards with tears flowing down her cheeks.

After going without physical contact for so long it was the one thing Rogue needed at this exact moment, and John was the closet one around to find comfort in. The nightmares were freaking her out more and more each night. It was as though they were never going to end.

"Ah cahn't sleep without dreamin' stuff that never happened ta meh," she whispered hoarsely, tightening her grip around John, assuring herself that he was really there and it wasn't another dream.

John stumbled backward a few feet and stood in shock for a moment, blinking in confusion and rigid in posture. First of all the side of her face was in contact with his collar bone and nothing was happening. He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, and it was doubtful strange alcoholic beverages had anything to do with it.

Secondly, John was the resident ahole and he knew it... so he wasn't entirely sure what to do in this situation. So he slipped his arms around her waist, almost excited at the fact that he didn't have to be cautious about skin contact, but at the same time cursing at the mere idea of a 'cure'.

"Shhh." He murmered in a low soothing tone, glancing up and down the hallway to make sure no one was there, and at the same time trying to figure out what exactly he was supposed to do to comfort someone. The idea that Rogue still had his memories, or worse his nightmares, was mortifying all on its own. Maybe she hadn't touched him long enough to get the childhood memories, but he distinctly remembered hitting the porch from the lack of energy caused by the drain.

The blonde wanted to jump all over his friend's case about taking the supposed 'cure' in the first place, but maybe that wasn't it... maybe she could control her power? No, he remembered Bobby frantically searching for her. She was in tears, and someone as closed up as Rogue freely crying on his shoulder was not exactly the perfect opportunity to chew them out. So he just held her tight and waited the tears out, glancing up at the ceiling and praying to god her boyfriend was faaaaaast asleep.

Eventually her tears subsided and Rogue finally pulled away from John with an awkward smile. "Sorry 'bout that," she sniffed, wiping her eyes. "Ah don't know what's wrong with meh...Ah just haven't been sleepin' well lately."

She shifted from one foot to the other, her eyes cast downward. Sure she and John had been friends once, but things were different now. He had been a part of the Brotherhood and Rogue...Rogue had been cured. She had a pretty good feeling John wouldn't like that at all.

Silence loomed in the hallway as Rogue tried to think of something to say besides another apology.

John shrugged her apologies off and crossed his arms as silence engulfed them. He hated awkward silences, and this was one if ever there was one. He stared down at the floor between them with a stunned look on his face. Not just at the fact that she was cured, but the sudden outburst of affection and what seemed to be an almost need for him there. Anyone probably would have done though... so it wasn't exactly a need for him.

"Why the hell would you do that?" He quickly snapped and arched an eyebrow. Sure, it wasn't the brightest thing to say, but being in complete silence led the teen to say the first thing on his mind. "There was nothing wrong with you before." He added in a softer but still bitter tone. His expression was on of confused desperation, at the mere idea that one of his 'friends' had willingly accepted that mutant poison. The strong willed Mystique had been on the verge of tears when she'd been hit.

"Ya don't know what it was like for meh," hissed Rogue crossing her arms defensively. "Ah couldn't touch anyone--what kinda life is that? The only way ta be sure no one else got hurt was ta stay away from them. Things with Bobby were goin' downhill...ahn Ah wasn't happy. Ah haven't been happy since Ah became a mutant. But now Ah have a chance ta be normal--to live a happier life."

It hurt to hear the anger in John's voice. It was as though she had disappointed him. Then again, it was as though she had disappointed a lot of people in the mansion by getting the cure.

"What would you have done if ya had been in mah shoes, John? If ya had mah powers, would ya have kept 'em?" demanded Rogue as more tears formed in her eyes. All she wanted was to fit in, but it seemed no matter what she did she would still remain an outcast.

"Normal? This isn't normal. Being a mutant is part of you, and part of who you are... were." John said in an almost exasperate tone. He wasn't used to being around people who accepted the idea of a cure, nevermind someone who thought it was the right thing to do.

"Would I have kept them? I couldn't have, it's not my gift Rogue. It was your's. One day everyone realizes exactly what their gift is for, would I give up my gift to fit in and lead a normal life? Hell no." He shook his head, not knowing what it was like to have her powers.

He was silent for a moment and glanced off down the hall, and up at the cieling, because he honestly didn't want to argue with her. "Can you really touch people? I mean without anything happening?" He questioned and glanced at her ungloved hands. It was an odd sight to see, but no different than their visit to Bobby's house.

Rogue gritted her teeth to keep more tears from falling. John didn't get it. If he--if anyone for that matter--had had her powers they would know how hard it had been to keep a safe distance from others. Always wearing layers, wearing gloves even during the summer time...it had gotten old after a while.

"Yeah," she said softly, "Ah cahn touch people now without bein' 'fraid Ah might kill 'em."

Rogue sighed, she didn't want to argue with John. It had been her decision to get the cure. She was content with that decision. Though she wished the nightmares would stop.

"I know ya ain't happy with what Ah did, John, but it's over now. Ah already did it--it's in the past, ya know? Cahn't we just start over?" Rogue rubbed her forehead wearily, feeling another headache coming on. Every time she had a nightmare it was almost immediately followed by a headache. It made Rogue's skin crawl, like she was getting sick or something.

"Yeah." John replied with a shrug and tried to act like it was really no big deal. "I'm sure Bobby's happy..." He grumbled and looked back at her. Maybe Bobby wasn't happy that she'd gotten the cure, but he was probably pleased with the ability to touch his own girlfriend.

"Starting over would mean you going all shy, me having to show off to get a smile out of you and Bobby gettin' me in trouble with Miss Munroe 'cause he's jealous." The teen quipped with a smirk. "How 'bout we just skip it?" He questioned quietly and stepped forward for a light hug. "I missed you, it's good to be back."

Rogue chuckled and wrapped her arms around John's neck. "Ah've missed ya too." She had, things just hadn't been the same without John around.

"Are ya gonna stick 'round for a while?" she whispered into his ear, hoping he would. It would be nice to have another friend around to hang out with again. Sure she had Bobby, but she couldn't spend all her time with her boyfriend. It would be nice to have friends besides Bobby.

"You're jus' sayin' that." John said with a smirk and gave her a tight squeeze before letting go. "Missed yah at Alcatraz, and yah missed the major migraine your boyfriend gave me." He said and stepped back. "Yeah. I think my 'followin the evil dictator' phase is over. Mystique's human." The teen said it all rather quickly, throwing in the last part as if it all connected, and to him it did.

Rogue had been completely open with him, and it was two o'clock in the morning. "That guard who shot her was aiming for Magneto, and she jumped in the way to save him, but apparently it didn't matter because he just left her there. It had to be the worst thing I've ever witnessed in my entire life. I mean, you know Mystique. She's... Mystique, but she just looked..." He trailed off figuring he'd said a little too much, and he couldn't think of the right word for it anyway. Being John he might have noticed the fact that she had been entirely naked at the time, but that had been the farthest thing from his mind.

"Ah heard Mystique ahn Magneto were both human now. For them it's the worst thing that coulda ever happened. But Ah don't know if Ah cahn pity them much. They tried ta kill meh once...Ah guess Ah haven't been able ta let that go."

Rogue made a face and then shook her head to banish thoughts of Ellis Island out of her mind. "Ya don't look worse for wear...Bobby took it easier ohn ya then he could've. At least that's the rumor Ah've been hearin'. Our side took some big hits too though. Everyone was affected this time 'round."

"Have ya talked ta Bobby yet?" asked Rogue after a minute. Since she had heard about the Alcatraz Island incident she had been afraid to mention John to Bobby. They had been best friends once, and now it was one of the more testy subjects to discuss.

"I was tired, Iceman spent the whole time hidin' behind people while I was flaming away." John said with a shrug, and avoided eye contact. "I could'a taken him if I wanted to." He lied with an arrogant smirk and thought bitterly about Bobby's last comment. Well he was back in school now, and he was gonna kick Iceman's a one of these days.

"No, don't see the point." He replied with a light-hearted laugh and a glance into Rogue's room. "Should we move? We're gonna wake everyone up." The teen questioned, but actually meant 'are we gonna go in your room and talk or stay out here until we get caught?'

"Uh-huh. Ya ahn Bobby just need ta get over yourselves, ya know that? Ya both think ya coulda taken the other down," remarked Rogue with a roll of her eyes. They had always been competive in the past, so it didn't surprise her that they couldn't drop their prides and let bygones be bygones.

"Come ohn in. It wouldn't be good ta wake anyone else up--Ah don't think Storm or Logan would appreciate it." Rogue motioned John to follow her into her bedroom. She returned to her bed and sat back down, pulling her knees back to her chest.

"Ya didn't get hurt real bad, didja?" she asked after a moment of silence. It pained her to think that he and Bobby had really fought each other. She could never understand friends fighting against friends...then again, brothers had fought brothers in the Civil War. It had to be the human part of everyone that continued that particularly vicious cycle of battling loved ones.

John followed her into the room and laid at the foot of her bed, staring up at the cieling and wondering why Rogue didn't hate him for leaving them all on basically no notice for a guy that had tried to kill her for the 'better mutant kind'.

"There is no way I could possibly get over myself, jus' too cool." He joked and laughed a little. "As for Iceman... due I don't know what he's got to be so impressed about..." He teased and smiled over at her. He didn't really understand what she liked about Bobby, he was always so cautious... and waited forever for her to get the courage to try something. Then again maybe that was a likeable trait in her point of view.

"No I'm fine, save the occasional headache. Man Piotr probably could've knocked me out with less damage, I think the fact that the blow was ice cold had something to do with me being out of it for a week." He admitted, and sighed. Bobby was better than him, he'd beaten him flat out in combat, and that was definitely a tough thing to swallow. "So, you and Bobby goin' uphill now that your... human?" He said in a voice that hinted it was the most unimaginable thing he could possibly say, but it was said with less bitterness than the last couple times.

"Ya aren't givin' yourself much credit," stated Rogue. "The only reason Bobby beat ya was 'cause he had more trainin'. The X-Men make ya learn how ta control your powers if they cahn be controlled. Ah don't know if Magneto did that with ya...if he didn't it'd be a reasonable reason why ya couldn't beat Bobby in battle, ya know?"

Rogue bit her lip as John asked about her and Bobby's relationship. "It's alright Ah guess. Things were pretty weird for a while. He ahn Kitty kinda had somethin' goin' ohn...we've been takin' it a step at a time since then."

"You obviously aren't listening. I could have beat Bobby." John repeated, but he figured if you absorbed someone's very personality you could probably tell what their different expressions meant... and thus know when they were lying.

"Is that why you did it?" He questioned suddenly and glanced over at Rogue. If John's girlfriend suddenly took interest in someone else he'd probably remind her why she liked him, but with Rogue it hadn't really been possible... at least not in his way of thinking.

"Liar." Rogue didn't bother explaining how she knew he was lying, she just did. She shook her head violently however at the last question.

"Ah didn't do it for Bobby. Ah did it for meh. It's what Ah wanted. It's what Ah've always wanted. John, when Ah came here Ah thought that the Professor could cure meh, but Storm pointed out that wasn't what he did. Ah've wanted a cure more than anythin' else...Ah know everyone thinks Ah did it for Bobby, but Ah didn't. Ah would've gotten the cure even if Ah didn't have a boyfriend that was thinkin' 'bout another girl 'cause he could touch her."

Rogue didn't know how else to make John see that getting the cure was her choice through and through. It was the only thing she had done in a long while to make herself happy.

"Okay, okay, calm down. It was simply a question. I've been gone for ages, rememeber?" John asked with a small smile at her, but turned away to look out the window.

"I stil say its part of who you are." He said quietly and sat up with a sudden grin of realization on his face. "So, yah can't get me outta your head huh?" The teen asked smugly and rolled onto his stomach to look at her, a coy smile on his face. "I suppose I am hard to forget." He said in an almost sympathetic tone.

Rogue narrowed her eyes at John's smile. "Ya don't even wanna know what Ah remember from your head. 'Sides, ya ain't the only one Ah cahn't forget 'bout. Magneto, Logan...even mah first boyfriend are all up there. So Ah wouldn't feel too special if Ah was you."

Leaning her chin on her knees she studied John for a minute before saying, "Ah really did miss ya."

John quickly rolled his eyes and averted his gaze back to the ceiling. He'd missed her, sure, but she actually seemed to be sincere about missing him. It wasn't just another 'glad to have you back, how long before you take off this time.'

The eighteen-year-old still wasn't used to having someone he could count on, never mind someone who actually cared about him or even wanted him around. Instead of speaking he focused his thoughtful and almost timid gray stare on the dark corner of ceiling by her closet.

"Are ya even listenin' ta meh? The least ya could say is ya felt bad for not sayin' good-bye or somethin' lame like that." Rogue sighed and plopped onto her stomach beside John on her bed. "Well, whether ya wanna admit it or not, Ah think ya missed meh too. Ah'm glad your back."

The last words were a whisper as Rogue's head drooped down onto the bed. She closed her eyes and snuggled against John, happy that she didn't have to worry about hurting him with a single touch. It felt nice to have someone there with her. Now she didn't have to be alone anymore.

"I did say I missed you!" John protested weakly, but he let it go considering he couldn't even make eye contact when she said something meaningful to him.

"I guess you are." He muttered in reply to her last statement, and slung an arm around her shoulders. Never in John's wildest dreams had he imagined being civil toward a human, much less close to one. He almost felt bad for Rogue, as most had when she had her mutation, but being human and never feeling the excitement of reaching out with her powers? It sounded like sheer torture to him.

He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head and rested his chin there. "You really happier with being this way?" The teen mumbled as he snapped his eyes open every so often in an attempt to stay awake.

Rogue nodded sleepily. "It's the happiest Ah've been in a long while," she murmured with a yawn, snuggling closer to John, letting his warmth sink in. In an attempt to get more comfortable she wrapped an arm around his waist and used his chest as a cushion for her head.

"Night, John," she mumbled incoherently.

"Okay, then I'll try an' be happy for you." John mumbled and yawned. If she wanted to be human, and he wanted to be her friend, then he couldn't hold it against her. A small sleepy smile passed over his face as she repositioned herself and he let his own head fall back onto the bed. He had no desire to move and grab a pillow, and apparently he was her pillow substitute for the night.

"Good night." He replied quietly, still getting used to hearing his own name again. People had been calling him Pyro for a long time, but it was sort of nice to hear his own name again.

- - - -

Rogue awoke the next morning to sunlight filtering onto her eyes. Sleepily she entangled herself from John's arms to gaze about her room, trying to remember where she was exactly.

A soft smile worked it's way up onto her face as she glanced back at John. It hadn't been a dream. He was still there. Studying his face Rogue decided he looked happier too. She glanced over at the clock on her bedstand and rolled her eyes at the time. It was almost noon and no one had come to bother her yet. That probably meant no one else in the mansion was up yet either.

Rather than be kind and let John sleep, Rogue decided to start poking him in the cheek gently. "Jonny, wake up. You're snorin'."

"Mmmnot." John mumbled sleepily, but his face scrunched up in confusion. "What're yew doin' my room?" He grumbled and opened an eye. He suddenly remembered that he wasn't in his own room, and with that all sorted out he tapped Rogue on the head and turned his back to her. "Go tah sleep." He said with a smirk on his face, and no intention of doing so.

So the whole thing with Rogue hadn't been a dream, and rather than angry she was glad to have him back. If only he could have worked up the courage to talk to Bobby... but he somehow doubted the conversation would go anything near similiar to his and Rogue's. Though it also meant she was in fact human, and happy about it.

"Ow." The teen mumbled out of nowhere and thread his hand into his hair. Hangover's weren't fun, but luckily he hadn't had that much to drink; and this would probably be a light one. That didn't mean his head wasn't throbbing, though he hadn't been drunk last night and had really no excuse for opening up to Rogue. None past actual, sincere trust in the girl.

Rogue rolled her eyes as she plopped back down on her stomach beside John. "Somebody's bein' cranky this mornin'."

She reached over and poked him in the ribs. "You're not gonna go back ta sleep are ya? Maybe ya should get up ahn take a run 'round the mansion. It might do ya some good. Or ya cahn get up ahn take a shower. Or ya cahn get up ahn talk ta Bobby. Ah have a whole list of things for ya ta do."

John jerked away from her, chuckling slightly. His ribs and sides were extremely ticklish, and his sensitive ribs had been poked.

"Sleep." John grunted in reply, but turned around with open eyes to face her. He smiled and sighed. "You aren't gonna let me sleep are you? Let's give up on that talking to Bobby thing, for a while at least." He said and sat up with a smile.

A quick glance at her was all it took. The teen quickly reached out with his right hand and lightly stroked hers with the back of his fingers. It wasn't the same as with her power. The touch didn't have the same intensity, but he reminded himself that the close and intense feeling was due to the fact that his very thoughts were being transferred through that touch. "Kinda weird." He muttered and swallowed.

Rogue watched as John's hand reached out towards her. His touch was soft and seemed to say a million things at once...the very same things she had gotten when she had absorbed him.

But she couldn't help asking, "What's weird? Meh? Ah'm still the same person Ah was last time ya were here...just...human now."

Rogue swallowed nervously as she locked eyes with John.

"I guess so." John replied quietly, with another of his noncommital shrugs. Their eyes met and he felt his stomach do an uncomfortable flip.

After a while he realized what they were doing and quickly looked down at the bed, face heating almost to the point of a blush. "We should get up, it's late." He mumbled and quickly slipped off the bed.

"Twelve o'clock? Yeesh... I didn't drink that much." The blonde teen joked and gave her a weak smile. "Though I did manage to get the numbers two and three mixed up in the elevator... I wonder what was in that colored crud?" He mused aloud and stretched with a yawn.

For half a second Rogue felt a tinge of disappointment as John got onto his feet, but she quickly realized why he had done it. With a nod of her head Rogue sat up in bed as though nothing had been about to happen, glancing at the door. She couldn't hear any sounds coming from the hallway, which probably meant the coast was clear.

"Maybe next time ya won't go out drinkin'," murmured Rogue with a grin. "Thanks for talkin' with meh last night--it helped chase all the nightmares away. Maybe we cahn hang out later."

"I'm the human dream catcher. It's my second and more dormant power... if only it worked on me." John replied, not really acknowledging that he'd helped in any way, and making a joke out of it like he did with most things.

"Later works, Right now I've gotta go run around the mansion," He said and made his way for the door, "and maybe next time I'll have something better to do." His voice hinted at something, nothing specific, but something. Later they'd probably hang out, but right now was weird for some reason and that probably wasn't a good thing.

"Yeah, that sounds good to meh," agreed Rogue nodding. She gave John a small smile, sensing the difference in the tone of his voice. She watched him go before sinking back down onto her bed.

Things had gotten awkward fast...and Rogue wasn't sure what to make of it all. She had Bobby still, she couldn't ruin that now. They had just made it through the Kitty debacle, Rogue knew another bump in the road would probably destroy them.

Rogue's eyes darted back to her closed door. John still lived in her mind. It would be hard to forget him and the unspoken words that easily.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So there it is. Rogue and John are friends again. Don't you Ryro shippers or haters start dancing or booing. Anything can happen in an RPG and I'm not gonna say anything about these two going one way or the other. You guys are gonna be psyched with the things to come, the Brotherhood is coming back and coming back strong.


	5. Author's Note

Authors Note: I'm all ready for the next chapter, but we're on a bit of a standby as two of our members finish up their bit. I can promise you the next chapter will be the LONGEST one yet, and it features lots of our old pal Colossus. The chapters are taking longer to get up as they are growing in size, so we'll be trading frequent updates for length and hopefully detail.

I just thought I'd let you all know what is going on since I am unaware as to how much longer this wait will be.


	6. Overshot

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, but if I did I'd be rich and I'd make X4 the best movie in the entire world... right after I made a Pyro spin off.

A/N: Alright this chapter is **_long_** and when I say that I mean **_LONG_**. This one thread has been going forever so I haven't been able to put it in, but I can't even continue with the story until we get this character in. So I have to use that what seemed like endless thread as a flash back. Anyhow, its very, very long and brings in one of my old favorite characters.

On top of waiting for it to end, I finally grasped the time to put this up and a family member got sent to the hospital (S'okay now) then it started telling me there was an error or I was trying to upload an empty document! EMPTY? This has a tinsy bit too much stuff in it to be considered empty. What ever. WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I GIVE YOU! Overshot.

So here yah go.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Today was the day of the week that Wanda and Pietro did there own thing. They had figured that if they were going to search for their father, then they would need a day a week to be themselves by themselves. Even twins don't get along all of the time. So, Pietro was alone.

He hadn't really had anything of importance to do, so he had elected to just relax in the zoo. He liked the atmosphere and he could have a small inside laugh at the human animals looking at the more multi legged ones. He had pretty much been raised to never trust humans and it was because he had to protect his people from them that his father was missing to his family.

Currently, he was watching the polar bear, deep in thought. Both him and the similar hair colored beast seemed preoccupied, but at the moment, only the bear's stemmed from a not to distant female.

Ada had taken a day off from life at the institute. After settling in, she had to get away, the hype of being a mutant and all the politics that surrounded it becoming too much for her to tolerate. So, she had phased to New York City. She'd only been once, to attend a conference some years back, and hadn't really seen any sites. But she had her chance, and had wound up at the zoo.

..._Flashback_ ...

_Cold_. That was what it was. And _weightless_, everything felt so weightless. She was being borne across the air, at the moment, nothing but a disembodied cluster of atoms. She couldn't breathe, wouldn't have dared to regardless. Now, she was uncertain of her destination, not sure why she was going where she was, not positive she'd be readmitted into the fold.

Then, in an instant, she was solid again.

Her feet manifested on solid wood, scented air entering her lungs as she gasped. Re-entries were never the best of experiences, full of renewed experiences. Like standing, for instance. She swayed a bit, her teleportation having lasted a full ten seconds to get her from Georgia to New York.

The sounds of heavy footfall came from her left, and her grey eyes darted over to take in a scene of children darting into a room. She relaxed, switching her backpack from one shoulder to the other, frowning to herself as she took in the expensive entry way. She'd overshot her target... again. She'd been aiming for the front door, so she could knock and be polite. But no matter, she was in and there was no turning around for her.

"Hello?" Ada called out softly, taking a cautious step forward and looking at one end of the hallway, then the other.

John stepped out of the elevator and onto the ground floor; dressed in simply his jeans. He made his way toward the stairs, hoping to run into one of his old friends, and every so often his bare feet would make a muffled smack on the hard wood floor.

The teen came to the entry way and passed the girl standing there. He was halfway up the first part of the stairs before he turned around and looked at the girl. He'd never seen her before, but this no longer meant anything since he'd been absent for a while. She did however look lost, and had a bag over her shoulder. "You new?" He questioned and leaned on the railing for support.

The halls didn't show much of any promise, she wagered, resigned to standing and waiting. She rubbed her hands together, not out of nerves but because her knuckles hurt. Where was everyone? Were there any teachers left?

Then a young man, maybe a year or so older than she, appeared... shirtless? Ada didn't question this for mental safety; it was none of her business. He passed her as if she wasn't there, and then, he stopped and finally saw her. He came and leaned against the railing with a sense of arrogance, but it was confident.

When he spoke, she stood impossibly straighter, her poise due to upbringing.

"Ah ahm..." she replied in her delicate Southern Drawl. "Ahm Ada. Who're yew?"

"John, or Pyro. Whichever you prefer." The teen replied and smiled. He recognized the suddenly perfect posture, almost a defensive manuever in his point of view, and shrugged it off. He used to do that, ages ago, before he'd discovered he was a mutant.

"Did anyone-" He stopped talking however, and blinked in slight shock. No one knew she was coming, or perhaps no one even knew of her existance and the possibility that she might have come. Without Xavier they had no way of tracking down lost mutants. All the runaways, like Rogue and himself, or the mutants no longer allowed to return home, like Bobby, would be lost out there. He could remember sitting on a beach over six years ago, balancing a little flame between his cold hands, staring hopelessly into the ocean, and wondering what on earth he was going to do for the rest of his life. The institute hadn't exactly worked out perfectly for John, but it had been his home and without it he would probably have lived on the streets and become a criminal like many of the mutants that had been in the brotherhood.

After about a minute of silence he remembered the girl infront of him, and pushed the thoughts of 'what happens now' to the back of his head. "Sorry about that, um..." The teen once again trailed off into silence. Storm was headmistress but she seemed to have a lot on her plate, and he knew of another person who might be able to help someone set up. "Come on, let's go find someone who know's whats what here." He waved an arm for her to follow and made his way up the stairs. John would be able to help new comers out himself once he figured out the new room situation, who was new and who had left. Before he'd left he'd kept mental notes of who was in which room and what rooms were ready for new mutants, and he was going to figure it out again if it killed him. Home wasn't so much his familiar home anymore, and that made him ever so slightly regret leaving it.

His moods changed so quickly, but she didn't miss it. Ada patiently waited for him to answer, all the while wondering what exactly he was thinking, and what had made him so suddenlty startled. More than likely he was wondering how she'd gotten to the Institute, and whether or not anyone knew she was coming.

No, She thought ot herself, No one knew...

She'd left home without saying goodbye. A few words, but no good bye. That was too perminant, too final. Ada hated good byes. Only her brother watched her dissapear from the kitchen, dissapear from the only life she'd known until recent events lured her out of the woodwork and into the world...

Why you wanna leave? He'd asked her.

Ever'thin', she'd replied, Ah'm no guhd here. Ahm deadly.

Truth be told her town was no longer safe. her being what she was labeled her for certain death.She'd put her family in danger by coming home after the "war". Her father, at first, wouldn't let her in the house. Ada hadn't been surprised. After a few weeks, the town had caught on. Matthew Edington's daughter was back, and she hadn't been cured. Then it was definite that Ada was an outcast. People she'd grown up with acted like they'd never seen her. The little girl turned too suddenly in to a woman was a stranger.

But she hoped the people here wouldn't shun her, too.

When the teen, "John", had finally spoken, she was still quiet, ever watching. When he ushered for her to follow, she did, not sure where she was heading, or if it was wise to follow him. But, she didn't have a choice. She wasn't afraid, anyway.

Her back gave a twinge, and she moved her backpack to her arms, deciding that was the best place for it. Another twinge, she closed her eyes for a lengthy blink. But still, she followed.

Piotr opened his bed room door and glanced down the hallway, to make sure a stamped of students weren't coming toward him, Before walking out and shutting the door behind him. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and started to walk down the hallway toward the fory.

Piotr reached the top of the stairs and noticed John and a girl. John had been sleeping for almost a week, and Piotr had been under the suspicion that he wasn't going to be getting up. "You finally woke up." He said with a laugh and started to walk down the stairs. "Who's this?" He asked and looked over at the brunette next to John.

Ada saw another teen enter the hallway, and slowed down. She recognized him vaguely, though somehow, he was different from her flashing memory. Tall, well-built, with an air of ease and calm, he approached them and seemed to joke with Pyro. Ada took a moment to study his face...

And she placed his face with memory. He had been covered in steal when she caught a glimpse of him last. Well, some shining organic metal. At least, he seemed to be the same mutant.

"Ahm Ada-Marie Edington," she answered with an air of pride, extending a hand, smiling slightly.

There was no point in being a stranger, she decided.

Piotr looked back at John for a split second before turning back to the brunette as she said her name. The woman looked slightly familiar to Piotr. He could remember seeing her somewhere before, But he didn't remember saying anything to her, Or if he had really seen her somewhere. Maybe she just reminded him of someone.

"Hello Ms. Edington." Piotr said and shook her hand. "I'm Piotr Rasputin." He said and gave her a friendly smile.

Ada blushed a little at that. She was never called by her surname, that was her mother's title, and certainly not recently. Most young men she had met weren't so curtious or mannerly. She took into part how his hand outsized hers, but then again, he could be labeled "corn-fed", from where she was from.

When he said his name, she laughed a little, knowing she'd never be able to pronounce it to save her life; "Please, call meh Ada," she said, her smile broadening somewhat; "Ahn kin yew say yo' name one moh time? Ah migh' butcher et otha wise," she laughed uneasily again. Her accent was a trademark, for sure, but it could also be her folly.

In truth it was a unique name, Russian, maybe, if she guessed right. But it could be Czechoslovakian for all she knew. Ada had only just seen the world past moss-covered willow trees and eighteenth century roof-tops.

"Alright, Ada." Piotr said and released her hand. "Piotr Rasputin." He said with a laugh. "You can call me Piotr." He said and laughed once again. He didn't have a nickname, beside's 'Colossus' but no one called him that, unless they were in the danger room, or something that involed him using his powers.

"Are you new?" He asked her with a quzzical look.

John didn't reply to Piotr, and he had trouble keeping a frown of his face. He had a feeling Piotr had probably carried him off Alcatraz. John was small; there were a few others who could have managed.

He watched their conversation, glancing longingly down the hall every so often. He wanted to get to his room, but he'd stick around just to be polite. "You can call him Peter." John corrected the russian boy, catching on to what Ada meant. John was pretty good with names, and saying them right based on their origin, but some people weren't. Bobby had come to butcher Piotr's nice russian name into 'Pete', and perhaps 'Peter' would suffice.

"Ah am," Ada replied to Piotr, nodding; "Though Ah feel a bit awkwahd nah' meetin' the principal 'ere furst... Ah might hafta ta call ya Petah!" she said, laughing a little, grateful John had grasped her need for something easy to pronouce; "Provided ya don' mihnd, tha' is."

She glanced at John then, wondering what he had continued to look at every so often. They were the only occupants of the hall... she assumed he wanted to be elsewhere.

"John, ifin Ah caught ya in tha middle o' somethin' yew kin go back to doin' whatevah yew were doin;," Ada said earnestly; "Ah won' mihnd, Ah kin manage... Ah'm not tryin' t' chase yew off, ya jus' seem lihke ya'd ratha beh elsewhere."

True, she had been to the institute before, and knew where the majority of things were. Her only quandary was if her room was now occupied. Well, her bed, at least. Ada glanced at Piotr again, wondering still, waiting for a new conversation. She was taught to speak when spoken to, or in dire emergency. Though she often used the latter as an excuse, she found no need, and was content with waiting.

"Yeah, sounds good." John agreed and gave a two fingered wave. "See'ya." He said with an almost annoyed look at Piotr, and then headed off down the hall.

"1... 2... 3... 4... 5." He counted and opened the door, glancing around the empty room and walking in. His own room was a new, and over welcome, feature. The teen swallowed and stepped into the room to find a shirt, pushing the door shut behind him.

"No problem here." Piotr said and watched John as he left. She had mentioned the principal, Well the Professor, So he figured she might want some help in finding her. "Would you like me to help you find Ms. Monroe?" He questioned and looked back down at Ada-Marie. "Or show you to an empty room?" He added, glancing down at her bag then back to her face. Not entirely sure what Ada was looking for.

Ada blinked, averting her gaze; "Uh... is Missus Munroe in chahge?" she asked; "Ah think it'd beh best t' see her furst," she smiled a little; "Ah kin just keep up with mah bags..."

She shifted her bag a little at the thought, wrapping her arms around it in an almost protective fashion. Then, her grey eyes landed on him again, for a brief moment, before she looked around him and tried to catch where John had dissapeared to. Assuming it was to his room, she resigned herself to waiting for a reply.

"Yes she is." Piotr said and looked down toward the front door. "Alright." He said with a nod. "She's probably in the garden." He said and started down the stairs. "She's there most of the time, From What I see, and hear." He said with a laugh and reached the bottom of the stairs.

He looked back up at Ada-Marie and studied her fairly quickly, Not wanting to offend her, But to get a good look at her, So he would be able to find her again, If needed.

"Oh..." Ada said, nodding; "okay..."

She followed him, looking forward to seeing the garden. She wondered why someone would spend so much time in a garden whose flowers bore nothing but beauty. Those gardens were all well and good, but Ada's gardens always produced food, as was protocol on a farm.

As they walked, Ada looked up at Piotr, deciding to strike up a conversation.

"Have yew bin here long?" she asked quietly, eyes redirecting to look around, remembering everything.

Piotr walked down the path toward the garden in silence, Wondering what he should say to her. He didn't know Ada-Marie, So He wasn't sure what she was in to.. So he had no idea what to say.

He continued to walk in silence until she questioned him. "Almost six years." He said and looked into the garden, at all of the flowers as they neared the gate. Piotr was never really into watching flowers.. Or having a garden actually, That was what his Mother did, He would help her out sometimes, But most of the time that was what Illyana and her did, While Piotr and his brother took care of the animals or something.

"Were you here before?" He asked her. A lot of the students had left or been sent home during the fight against the humans and Magneto, So he figured it might be interesting to figure out where she had come from.

"Six years? Tha's a spell..." Ada said, pausing to look around at the flowers; "Not a one o' those kin feed ya..." she muttered, though she had to admit the irises were exceptionally beautiful.

"Ah was here foh a while, maybe a few months. Ah kept t' myself, though," she added; "Went back home before this place was raided..." her voice trailed off; "Wehl, not 'raided', but Ah ain't got a betta wurd foh what happened..."

She really had no better word for it, and couldn't thank enough lucky stars for leaving when she did. It might have been to help with a horse show, but it saved her from possibly getting hurt, or worse. She wondered if Piotr had been invovled with that. He seemed old enough and strong enough to be a fabeled "X-Man", but she didn't know and she wouldn't ask now. That was a personal question saved for later.

"Ahm back though," she said with a small smile; "This place grows on ya, Ah guess..."

Ororo Monroe, the residents very own Weather Witch, had gone to the gardens after taking care of John in the infirmary and changing into her gardening clothes. The attire consists of a simple pair of jean shorts, and a dark blue tang top. She wasn't wearing gardening gloved, which wasn't uncommon. Ororo didn't see the need of them, and besides that, she enjoyed the feel of Earth, of Mother Nature.

The wind carried two voiced and allowed her to hear their approach. One of these voiced seemed awfully familiar, but the other one, not so much. She stood up, wiped her hands on her jeans in a feeble attempted to wash the dirt of and glanced at her work.

She was currently picking out the weeds of the garden on the further side, before she could plant a few more plants. But that would have to wait. People didn't usually come into the garden unless they needed her. She turned and walked toward the two.

When she reached the pair, Ororo smiled warmly at Piotr in greeting, "Hello, Piotr." She stated before turning her gaze to the younger girl. The Professor must have arranged something with her before he 'died'. She held out a hand, "Hello, I'm Ororo Monroe."

"Yeah, I guess it does." Piotr said looking over at Ada-Marie with a smile. He loved the mansion, and was glad to hear that someone else did to.

When He had first gotten there, He thought of it as a safe house, then as a cell, and that the government would show up any day and kill all of the mutants, Then he thought of it as a prison, And never asked to leave the mansion, For he was afraid the Professors would tell him he wasn't allowed to leave. He was quite a paranoid child.

Piotr looked away from Ada-Marie and around the garden, Unil Storm walked up to them. "Hello Ms. Monroe." He said with a smile. "This is Ada-Marie Edington." He introduced Ada-Marie then took another glance around the garden. "She just came back, She has apparently been here before." He told Ororo, wanting to keep her updated then waited for Ada-Marie to say something to her.

In silence Ada nodded, then, she watched as Ororo entered the garden. She shifted her backpack in her arms, trying to compose her posture without it being too obvious, a feet she pulled off somehow. When Piotr introduced her, she smiled a small smile, and shook her hand in occordance to the gesture.

"Ah was 'round on'y foh a few months behfoh, though, Ma'am," She said bashfully; "Buh... Ah was wond'rin'... if Ah could stay here ag'in? Mah home ain't safe these days, Ah dunno whur else t' go..."

It was true, home wasn't safe. If Ada had remained in Georgia, she could have run the risk of getting her entire family hurt. And that she wouldn't have on her shoulders. So, it was back to the Institute for Gifted Youngsters, i.e.: the haven.

She waited patiently, watching Ororo. She seemed weary, older than her looks. She carried the faint smell of earth, no doubt having been planting a new addition. Ada didn't worry much about this; her ability to tune into her surroundings and the people as well often got her into trouble.

"Ada-Marie Edington," The weather Witch murmured as she tried to recall the name. It did sound familiar but she couldn't remember meeting her. She let go of Ada's hand, and placed her own back at her side.

"Buh... Ah was wond'rin'... if Ah could stay here ag'in? Mah home ain't safe these days, Ah dunno whur else t' go..." The younger girl was telling her. The explanation seemed quite familiar, a lot of children that leave returned because they aren't accepted, or after the last battle.

"Of course you may stay here. We have plenty of room, although I'm not sure if you will have the same room you had the last time you were here."

Ada relaxed, sighing after Storm gave her the okay; "Thank-ee, Ma'am," she said, smiling a little.

Her back gave another involentary twinge, and Ada fought not to show the discomfort. She didn't want to seem weak about it, or let on that it bothered her. Ada didn't like worrying, and didn't enjoy causing it at all.

"Ah don' mihnd if Ah have a differ'nt room," Ada said, changing her focus; "Alls Ah need's a bed ahn' ah'll be set!" she laughed quietly.

Ororo smiled warmly at Ada. She felt a light breeze before it actually blew past them. She was connected to nature and knew by heart the way it worked. She has been since she was a child, but since her mutation showed, the connection only grew stronger.

"I will find room for you as soon as I can." Ororo remarked. At times, it was hard keeping track of what room was open and what room wasn't. Especially with people moving in and out all the time.

"Take yur tihme," Meg said, her smile broadening; "Ahm jus' glad t' beh here."

She looked up at Collosus then, pondering for a time at his silence. Perhaps he was just being polite, and Ada figured that was probably the reason for his lack of input. She looked around the garden, taking in the colorful flowers as her mind fought to focus on one thing instead of twenty.

"Yew grow all these, ma'am?" she asked Ororo, looking at her.

When Ada asked her about the garden, Ororo took in the lively plants. Her brown eyes flashed with pride at her work. "Most of them." She answered. "When I first came here, the garden was smaller and an outdoor decorator at designed it. I just sort of addad on to it and made it my own."

If you would have told her ten years ago that she would enjoy gardening, that it would calm her, she would have laughed at you. Back then, she was the wild and everything but the calm woman she was today.

The flowers and pride made Ada think of her mother, and she wondered if Ororo hummed as she worked, like her mother had. At this, Ada felt a longing for rolling hills and quiet pastures... but she willed it away with another small smile.

"Mah momma ahn' yew would get along," She said, looking around again; "She loves t' spend hours inna garden..."

"It can be rather relaxing." The Weather Witch mused. She turned her brown eyed gaze back to Ada. A small smile played across her lips as she watched the younger woman.

"That's what mah momma says..." Ada mused.

She looked at the ground as her back gave another twinge, trying not to make it obvious it bothered her. She looked at Ororo; "Um... d'ya have any tylenol?" she asked with a light laugh; "Mah back's killin' meh..."

"I don't, sorry." Ororo replied in answer to Ada's question. "There should be some somewhere in the kitchen, though." She added with as an after-thought. She went silent as she tried to remember where the Tylenol was placed. "It should be on the windowsill by the sink."

"Oh..." Ada said, nodding. She didn't exactly remember where the kitchen was, her memory was not that good.

She looked up at Piotr; "Y' wanna show meh whur et is?" she asked hopefully, with a small smile.

Piotr had stayed quiet while they spoke. He hadn't wanted to interrupt them. He looked along the flowers, and past them into the yard.

The black-haired Russian was getting a little tight. He wanted to go run, or train, or use the danger room; Or play volley ball or some that involved moving around a lot. He was never really good at standing still for more then a few seconds. He glanced over at Storm and Ada-Marie as they spoke about the Tylenol, and began to wonder if they still needed him there, But Ms. Munroe hadn't told him he could leave so he stayed. He began to look around the yard again, Then he realized Ada-Marie was speaking to him.

Piotr looked down at her and nodded. "Alright." He said and waited for her to walk down the path before he did.

She gave him a small smile, then looked at Ororo; "THank-ee, again," she said with a slight inclination of her head. Then, glancing at Piotr, she turned, and headed for the mansion.

She wondered why he had been so quiet. Most boys Ada had met were quick to speak and even faster to interrupt. Though there were some with a sense of curtesy, they were few and far between. She shrugged this off. Piotr was just a gentleman.

When she reached the garden's edge, she stopped and looked at him. She really did not want to go any farther for fear of getting lost, or coming across something she wasn't supposed to.

"Good day, Ms. Munroe." Piotr said with a smile and walked off after Ada-Marie. He looked down at her, once she looked up and he stopped beside her, figuring she didn't know the way back; He began to walk down the path again. "It's this way." He said and walked toward the school.

On his way, He began to look around the yard again, Then began to wonder if Ada-Marie would be up to a game of volley ball. Just thinking about it before had made him want to play a game.

Ada nodded, following him in silence for a while. As they walked, she too, looked around, taking in everything. Things on a more grander scale never ceased to amaze her, or remind her of her simplistic lifestyle.

"So... thur a thing t' do here 'sides train, eat ahn' sleep?" she asked conversationally, with a smile as she looked up at Piotr. Gosh he's tall, she thought absently. Then again, she wasn't all too tall. Average, but nothing more.

Piotr looked back at Ada-Marie, glad she had brought up some conversation. "We could play a game of volley ball." He suggested what had been on his mind, and looked ahead and they reached the door. He opened it and stepped aside, waiting for her to go in.

"After you get your Tylenol." He said and glanced inside, toward the hallway that lead to the kitchen.

Ada gave him a small smile when he held the door open for her; "Thank-ee," she said, stepping in.

"Volley ball, huh?" she asked; "Bin a while, buh Ahm sure it'll beh fun!"

Piotr nodded at her and walked in, shutting the door behind them. "It has been awhile since I have played, too." He said with a laugh. He walke down the short hallway toward the kitchen and glanced back at her, realizing she still had her bag.

He began to think of place's she could put it while he entered the kitchen. "The Tylenol is right here." He said snatching it off of the window sill and holding it out, in the palm of his hand.

Ada gratefully took the bottle, then looked around. "Thank-ee..." she muttered, her eyes a little clouded as she thought.

There was a faucet over to her left, and normally, cups were placed near the faucet or the fridge. The freidge was also on her left, near the faucet. So, walking over, she set her bag down on a stool and opened the cabinets between the too, slowly, glancing over her shoulder at Piotr, as if to look for some sort of blessing. Then, turning, she pulcked a cup from the shelves, closed the cabinets, and then went to the faucet to fill it with water. Once this was done, she opened up the bottle, and popped to Tylenol in her mouth, downing the glass after.

Ada wasn't one for pills. She didn't like being medicated. But her back troubled her and she would bend her will only to ease the pain it caused. She sighed, rubbing her temples, almost feeling the medication working, though she knew that was all in her head and it would take a good twenty minutes.

Ada then washed out her cup and then dried it with a paper towel, setting the cup back in the cabinet and tossing her paper towel in the trash. She picked up her bag in her arms, and gave Piotr a smile.

"So... whur's this volley ball net at?" she asked.

"Your welcome." Piotr said and began to look around the kitchen as Ada-Marie took the pill. He looked back at her as she spoke to him and he glanced down at her bag.

He hadn't thought of somewhere she could put it.. There was Xavier's office.. But he wasn't sure if he was allowed in there. Then there were the girl's room's, Maybe someone would let her keep her bag there until she got a room, but he wasn't sure if Ada-Marie would be comfortable with that; So he had nothing about it.

"It's in the back yard." He replied and returned a smile.

Ada looked around; "Well, c'mon, then!" She said, taking her bag a little tighter, and phasing out of the kitchen, her laugh fading with the mist, the only thing she left behind. She knew where it was, once her memory had been jogged. She figured she'd just surprise him and let him know what she could do.

Seeing the volleyball net, she set her bag down on a bench, took off her coat ,and then put her hair up in a loose bun. It wouldn't hold, but she didn't care. Kicking off her shoes, she then strode over to the volleytball net, her feet a little burnt by the white hot sand. She picked up the volleyball, tossed it in the air a few times, then looked around, waiting.

The Russian caught off guard was slightly surprised. He stood in one spot for a second, watching the mist as it faded away, He walked out of the kitchen after Ada-Marie once it was gone. Once outside he began to run across the grounds toward were the Professor had put the volleyball net, Not wanting to keep Ada waiting and figuring she was there. He came to a stop on one side of the net and looked over at her.

"That is an amazing power." The dark-haired Russian commented and smiled at her. He had never seen anything quite like what she had done. Kurt's power was close, But he left behind smoke and was immediately gone. Ada-Marie had kind of faded away. It was a very interesting thing to see.

Ada blushed at his compliment; "It ain't much," she told him, and it was true. There wasn't much to it; it was just a way of getting from A to B.

"So..." She said, holding the ball up to serve; "Ah just... hit it ovah to ya?" she mused, hoping that was how the game was played. Ada never really was a sports kind of gal, but it never hurt to try things every now and again.

Then, suddenly decided, she served, the ball clearing the net and heading for Piotr.

"Seem's like it would be a difficult to do." Piotr said and nodded at her question. Completely disappearing into a mist did seem like it would take a lot of practice to master, in Piotr's point of view, and her just showing up at the volley ball net in a matter of seconds.. He then began to wonder if she had to know where she was going, Or if she could just think of where it could be, or if she just had to imagine a volleyball court. Maybe the mist just sent her into an invisible state..

"That's how I remember playing it." The curious Russian said with a laugh and He watched as the volley ball came soaring toward him. He hadn't played this game in awhile, But it was one of his favorite's. He put his hand into a fist and sort of punch the ball as it came toward him, sending it, hard, back over the net toward her.

Ada's eyes widened as she saw the ball comign for her. Holding out her arms she caught it, alright, but it sent her tiny frame flying. She landed just shy of clearing the sand, managing to land on her side before her scar could be hurt. She coughed and sat up, wiping her eyes before she looked down at the ball in her lap. She looked at Piotr, and then at the ball again she started to laugh, a happy and musical sound that rarely escaped her calm and plaintive demeanor.

"Wehl wasn't that a throw!" Ada said through her laughter.

Piotr was about to say that Ada-Marie was supposed to hit it back to him and not catch it when he saw as the brunette was sent flying backwards. His eyes went wide, He hadn't meant to hit it that hard... He lifted the net a little to get under it and did a sort of walk/run over to her. "Are you alright?" He said and leaned over slightly, holding out a hand to help her up. He was now thinking they might want to play something different, or he should be more careful.

"I am terribly sorry, Ada." The twenty-year-old Russian said and shoved his other hand into his pocket.

Ada calmed, looking up at him and accepting his hand by taking it in her own. Gosh is his hand big, she thought.

"Wehl it ain't yur fault y'got a strong arm!" She said; "AH jus' di'n want mah face gittin' bashed in was all."

She set the ball down and looked at her reddening hands, laughing softly again; "Ahm jus' a magnet foh trouble!" she said, looking up at him with a smile; "But Ah'll beh fine, no wurries!"

The Russain pulled her up after she took his hand, Her hand seemed really small in his..

He also looked down at her redden hands. "Again, I am terribly sorry." He repeated and let out a short, nervous laugh. Sure she'd be fine, after a few hours and the red went away..

"Would you like to keep playing?" Piotr questioned her and his gray eyes looked away from her hands to look at her face. "Or do you wish to go inside?" He added to his questioned and waited for her reply. He was really hoping he hadn't hurt her, at all.

"Stop 'poligizin', Peter," Ada chided, smacking his arm lightly with the back of her hand; "Ah know ya di'n mean to!" she gave him a small smile, and then looked down to flex her hands. They stung a little, but she didn't see why she couldn't keep playing. She'd had worse injuries, and had lived through worse illnesses. So this was of no concern.

"Y'wanna keep playin'?" she asked him, gingerly picking up the ball; "Butcha gotta keep yur guns in their holsters!" she joked, laughing again. It had been funny to her.

"Alright, I shall." Piotr said with a nod. In his household, If you hurt a lady you had to do something to re-pay her for the damage you did and you got extra chores, But Ada-Maire didn't seem to mind that it had happened..

Piotr laughed at her joke and he smiled back at her. "If you are sure you wish to keep playing." He said and walked back over to his side of the net. "Then let's see if you can get it pass me." He said, challengingly and laughed.

Ada smirked, facing him from her side of the net; "Alright, here it comes..." she said, tossing the ball back, jumping up, and efficiently hitting it towards him.

She landed on her feet and waved her hand in the air, smiling through it. The sting went away as she watched the ball go over the net, but if it would land past Piotr was another story entirely.

"Okay." Piotr said and watched her hit the ball. The tall Russian back up a little, watching the volley ball come toward him and putting his hand into a fist again. He backed up even more and hit the ball once it was close enough, careful not to hit it too hard. He wanted to make sure he didn't do any harm to her again.

Piotr dropped his hand back down by his side, and looked over at her, with a smile; waiting to get the ball back.

The ball was soon back flying over the net, and Ada had to move to catch it before it hit the sand. She dove and hit the ball, sending it over the net but knowing it wouldn't get far. She threw her forearms out and landed smoothly in a bent-kneeling position, jumping up to catch the next one, a bright smile on her face. She hadn't had fun like this in a long while.

"Nice save." The Russian complemented Ada-Marie as she dove to hit the ball. He hadn't seen to many people who would actually do that. Piotr had to run for the volley ball after it was sent back over to him. After getting himself under it he jumped up and hit it, sending it back over the net toward her.

He had never played volley ball back in Russia, So that might have been why he found it so entertaining. He had always played.. Well violent games with his friends, Come to think of it.. He couldn't think of many games that didn't involve throwing something at someone or sparring them at some point in the game. He had done some horse race's against his friends, But sometimes when Piotr's friends would lose.. They would get into a fight.. So volley ball was a very nice game..

"Thanks!" Ada said, watching as he sent the ball back over to her. As she went for it she couldn't help but think don't hit your back and she stalled for a second. She hadn't even thought... she could have done serious damage. This stall caused her to miss the volleyball by an inch, and when it hit the sand she laughed and picked it up, trying to shrug off her sudden worry.

"Alright, point fer yew," she said, smiling as she backed up and studied Piotr, judging the distance.

She served the ball, sending it back over, all the while a nagging feeling still tugging at the back of her mind.

Piotr watched the ball with an interested expression as it flew over the net toward Ada-Marie, But his gray-eyed gaze settled on her as he saw a sudden change in mood. Ada-Marie had all of the sudden stopped moving for about a second. Her eye's had, had a look of worry then she had tried to get the volley ball again.

"Alright." The curious Russian said back to her and watched as she hit the ball. He raced toward the ball with his hand in a fist. "If you don't mind me asking, Ada." He said and hit the ball back over the net toward her. "Is there something troubling you?" He questioned and looked back over at her.

His questoin had her surprised, then again, Piotr was always surprising her and they had just met. Ada followed the ball and sent it back, debating how she should answer. She was embarassed by her back; the scar that left her crippled. It was her gift from Magneto, a gift from the war. She was ashamed she hadn't been able to miss what hit her. The fact that if it was touched the wrong way could send her into spasms wasn't flattering, either.

"Ah just don't wanna hurt mah back is all," she replied vaguely.

The tall Russian watched her hit the ball, waiting to see if he would get a reply to his question, and ran toward it as it soared back over the net. "Alright." He replied and punched the ball back toward her. Still being careful not to hit it too hard. He still felt bad for hitting it at her so hard, But her hand's didn't seem to be bothering her anymore, So he didn't say anything. Plus she had told him to stop apologizing.

Piotr watched her, waiting for her to hit the ball. He had studying to do and he had been meaning to use the danger room today, So if he wanted to get that done before tonight they would have to finish up their game. But he wasn't going to mention anything until later, Ada-Marie just getting here and all. He wanted to get to know her.

Ada was glad he didn't question it further; she didn't like talking about it and not talking about it helped her ignore it. She smiled as he hit the ball back, watching it soar over the net. Volley ball was somewhat boring, but playing with good comapny made it better, not to mention worth it.

"Play this game a lot?" she asked him with curiosity.

"Not lately." Piotr said with a shrug. He had been busy with school stuff. "But I used to play it a lot." He said and smiled. "It's one of my favorite game's." He said with a small nod to himself. "What game's do you enjoy playing?" He questioned her and looked around.

Thinking about what he had to do today, The Russian then began to wonder if Ada-Marie had ever used the danger room, He of corse wouldn't offer to take her incase she hadn't, But it made his curious. Piotr actually liked using the danger room, It was one of his favorite things about the school. He knew a lot of students probably hated it, But he loved the fact that he could use his power's on things and not be too worried about breaking something he wasn't supposed too. Plus the fact that you could choose any scene you wanted to train in, Was very cool.

Ada had to think about that. She'd never been the sports kind of girl; she enjoyed football but could only watch it, and when she was younger, she used to attend her school's sports games, but only to hang out with her friends. She used to ride horses a lot... did that count as a sport? Ada competed for a time as well.

"Ah lihke football," she said simply; "Ah horse -back ridin'. Yew luhk like a football player... ever bin on a team?" she smiled a small smile; "College's wuhld love havin' yew playin' foh 'em."

Piotr's grey eye's gazed around the mansion's yard as Ada-Marie thought. It was really nice out. His gaze was soon brought back to her as she began to answer. "I have been horse back riding as well." He said absentmindedly as she spoke.

"I have never played football, Or been on any kind team that I can remember." The large Russian replied with a shrugged, He and his friends would split into teams for skimmer, and some other games, But he had never been on an actual team.

The twenty-year-old had seen people playing football, on the televison and sometimes around the grounds, But Piotr had never taken part in an actual football game. He hated wearing any kind of gear when he had to move around a lot. So, That sort of drove him away from football, as well as hockey. With riding horse's you were supposed to wear a helmet.. But he had never done, He would usually bring a helmet out onto the trail with him to make his mother feel better, then take it off and ditch it on the paths.

"I am guessing if you like football you have played it before?" Piotr questioned with a curious look.

At that, Ada grinned; "Used to," she said; "Ah'd play backyard football wit' mah brothas ahn' friends."

She was a little surprised he'd never played football; he seemed the perfect build. Besides, she could imagine his face on a Sports Illustrated for some team or other. That made her blush a bit, and she coughed as she averted her gaze.

"Horse-back ridin's fun, though," she said; "Used to compete when Ah was younger. You ever ride the horses here?" she asked.

Piotr nodded a little as she spoke to him and smiled at bit when she blushed, But volley ball was a very easy sport to get tired while playing so he figured it was just the heat getting to her.

"I have." He said with a shrug. They weren't like the horse's on his farm in Russia. They were really mellow and trained for riding lesson's of some sort. There were a few horse's here that weren't all that mello, But the horse's back where Piotr was from were far less trained and well behaved then any of the horse's here.

"But, not a lot recently. It is one of my favorite things to do, though." The Russain said and smiled. A trail ride would be really nice... He thought and glanced back toward the mansion. The volley ball net was a ways back from the actual building.

"Then... how's about we ride 'em?" Ada quipped nonchalantly, glancing around to find the stables; "Lest we both kin do that, 'stead o' tryin' t' play volleyball," she laughed good-naturedly.

A trail ride would be nice; she hadn't ridden a horse in months and it was about time to relax. True, this trails here would be nothing like the ones back at her home, but they would suffice."Alright." Piotr said and smiled. He laughed at her volley ball comment. "Yes, And I probably can't kill you while riding." He said with another laugh. Unless he brought something to throw at her with him, He didn't see any chance's something would happen.

"Do you remember where the stables are?" Piotr questioned her with a friendly smile. Ada-Maire had said she had been to the x-mansion before, But she hadn't remembered where the kitchen was, So He figured he might as well ask her. Plus she was glancing around, which probably meant she was looking for it.

Ada smiled, "No, not realleh," she said innocently, then, she looekd horrified; "Kill me? Wehl Wah on earth would yew wanna do that?" then, before she could stop herself, she grinned. But she tried to appear serious.

"So, yew know whur they at?" She asked him, trying to remain serious.

Piotr's smile then faded and a dead serious expression came over his feature's. "Well, Don't you see, Ada?" He questioned her and turned around, heading up toward the grassy part of the yard. "I threw that volley ball at you intentionally." He said and glanced back at her, His expression serious, but his eyes laughing. "I have plans to kill you." He said with a nod to himself.

He had worked on keeping a serious expression. With all of the humorous things the younger students did, He had to keep a straight face when the teacher lectured them in class.

"The stables are this way." Piotr said and pointed toward his right, Back toward the mansion. The stables were fairly close to the mansion, and there was a huge field in the back to ride in.

Her eyes widened, until she met his own and saw he was joking; "Kill me, huh?" she asked, eyeing him as she followed; "Yew couldn't catch me."

At that she laughed, phasing away and reappearing on his other side. She shoved him playfully, then phased off and reappeared some twenty yards ahead.

"Oh, yes. Me and the professor's have been planning." Piotr said and kept his serious expression as her eyes widened, But an interested expression took over his features as she said he couldn't catch her. He then saw her disappear and felt hands on his side pushing him, then he laughed as she reappeared a ways away from him.

"I doubt I could." The Russain admitted, smiling again. He began to walk toward the stables. It was true, He probably couldn't catch her even if he tried. "But, I will get you Ms. Edington." He said and laughed. "I have many, many plans for catching teleporter's." He said and looked back toward the mansion.

Piotr then began to wonder how you would catch a teleporter. Mrs. Grey and Ms. Munroe had gotten Kurt to come with them, But he had never been told if Kurt had actually went on his own free will. He had imagined he would have.. But the questioned troubled him.

His laugh was welcoming, and Ada wondered if she could possibly get him to laugh more. "Wehl," she said matter-of-factly as she reappaered at his side, hands folded in front of her as she walked stoically; "Ifin yur plans involve special nets, Ah'm afraid yur still up a crik without a paddle!" she gave him a smile.

They were soon approaching the stables, and Ada's smile grew; "lookit, there it is!" she said, tugging at his shirt sleeve before she darted off, like a child in a theme park.

Quickly Ada entered the stables, and looked around the stalls, catching glimpses of the horses, trying to see the mannerisms. She was looking for an Arabian, or even a Tennessee Walking Horse, something she was familiar with.

"That was the plan, you caught me." Piotr said and smiled as they neared the barn. He hadn't been in the barn in a while, after the fight with Magneto he hadn't done much but read, and study.. It, recently, had been getting awfully boring. So, getting out of the house and into the stables was nice.

Piotr glanced over at Ada-Marie as she tugged on his sleeve. "Yep, there it is." He said and let out a laugh as she ran off for the barn, and He ran after her.

The twenty-year-old entered the barn and watched her as she walked around the barn. She seemed to be looking for something, possibly... "Is there a certain horse you used to ride?" He questioned her and began to walk around, looking from his left to his right into the horse's stall's. Their were a ton of different breed's of horse's in here...

The Russian had never been too sure on what breed of horse he had been riding back in Russia. He sort of just grabbed one that he had been riding on before and was off. He didn't normally use saddle's either. He and his friends just brushed them down, put their bridles on and were off. The horse's on his farm were used for working most of the time, though. So He and his friends would only be able to ride certain ones.

"A' Arabian," Ada replied as she stopped outside of a stall; "O' this guy right here..." a small smile spred across her face.

It was a large black and white Gypsy Banner horse, whose name was Rudolpho. The horse peered at her through a dark, round eye, shaking its mane and snorting. Ada laughed as she got the halter.

"Yeah, bet yew want outta this cramped stall, huh big guy?" she cooed, her voice gentle as she gathered the things she'd need, and then slipped into the stall.

The horse, much larger than herself, was at first apprehensive, but Ada started humming a simple hymn and reaching out, she stroked his muzzle. "Thur now," she said in a soft voice, slipping the halter on; "Ain't so bad, is it?" she pat his strong neck, before clipping on the lead rope.

..._End Flashback_ ...

It was times like these that she was thankful for at least looking normal. No one gave her a second glance, other than a few men here and there. But Ada could shake that off. She was content with watching children dart about, oohing and awwing at animals, pointing and tugging at their mothers' sleeves so they could share in the amazement as well. Ada was always somewhat envious of children. They always seemed so naive, so unaware yet so ready to greet the world.

Out of the corner of her eye she spied a polar bear exhibit. Making her way over, she leaned against a railing, watching the mammals, wondering if their minds had the capacity to realize they were in a prison, that they were no where near the artic and their "territory" was really just an acre or so of fashioned concrete.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a young man with white hair. She didn't stare though, preferring to occupy her senses with the animals at hand. If he was a mutant, she wouldn't watch him. It'd be rude to do so, though it was tempting.

Pietro couldn't help but think about what it would be like when he first saw his father. Before, it had always seemed like he wasn't good enough, which was why he kept trying harder. But, he was really good now, much faster then when his dad last saw him. He also wasn't sure how much he bought into his father's excuse for leaving in the first place, so he didn't know how much he wanted to impress him at all.

The silver haired mutant had one more problem. He had heard that his father had been 'cured,' so, what if he wouldn't want to be near his mutant children? And seeing them would only cause him grief and he left them, again. So many questions.

Pietro saw a girl, a bit younger then he was, come up. Even though she only gave him a glance Pietro saw it. The world around him was constantly in slow motion, so a glance lasted a bit longer to him. This caused a lot of frustration for him most of the time, but he had grown used to it by now.

In an instant, he was next to her. He gave her a smirk, "Never seen a guy with naturally white hair before?" he asked her, in a semi playful tone.

There was a soft breeze at her side, and Ada gasped when she was no longer alone. She held her hand to her chest, quickly controlling her breathing, blushing with embarassment for being caught offguard. She eyed the young man, then allowed a small smile as she looked back at the polar bears.

"Ah've seen wohse," she mused, glancing at him; "Who says Ah was lookin' at yur hair, any how?" By his tone he could have been joking, so there was no harm in her adding to the banter.

Since he had been quick to show off, Ada was compelled to do the same, but refrained. It was too public of an area, and she was not keen on being "politely escorted" off the premises. She could do no harm, but that never stopped an ignorant officer. At this thought, her eyes darkened a bit, but she quickly willed it away. Grey never was very attractive if it was too dark, after all.

Pietro looked at her as she seemed to be slyly thinking of something. Her eyes turned grey for a second, which most would dismiss as them seeing things, but once again, Pietro saw things in slow motion, so he knew it was definelty real. That could only mean one thing.

"So, can I take it your no more 'regular' then I am?" he asked, both referring to that and that she was still here and not running and alerting the police. Not that it would matter to him, since they would never catch him, but he'd prefer not to have to ruin his day anyway.

"The names Pietro Maximoff, by the way," he said, introducing himself.

Ada smiled amusedly at the term; "Define 'regulah'," she said, looking at him; "Then agin... noh lihke Ah try ahn' advertise et..." she looked over as a little toddler cooed, pointing at the Polar bears. She watched the toddler's mother usher her farther down the railing, apparently having caught Pietro's fast movements. This made Ada roll her eyes and she dismissed it, watching the animals before them.

"Ahm Ada Marie Edington, Pietro," she replied, glancing at him again.

She then drifted into silence, not sure of what else to say. Perhaps he'd continue the conversation, or just stand in companionable silence. Maybe he'd just continue on his way. She didn't know, and wasn't counting on anything. Company was always nice, especially that of a stranger's. It always kept things refreshing and interesting.

Pietro noticed the mother and baby leave, he knew it was because of him. Honestly he didn't care. People were allowed their emotions and if they chose fear, that was up to them. He was reminded of all of his father's philosphies. "Well, you could say I was raised to use my powers whenever I fealt like it. As my dad used to say, 'athletes compete, geniouses wright books or discover things, so why then, should the children of the atom not be able to freely use their gifts?'" he said mostly quoting, but partially asking her too.

Truthfully, he wasn't exactly being himself right now, typically he wasn't as relaxed, and he definetly didn't talk about his father as if he looked up to him. That was a privelage father's who stuck around got to have and his would have to reearn it somehow in Pietro's eyes. But, he didn't necessarily wont to make his father a topic of discussion since people had mixed feelings about him.

Ada looked at Pietro as he spoke of his father's "philosophies", the memory of a certain speech coming to mind. She laughed quietly, looking away.

"Ya dad a supportah of a cer'ain Mistah Lensherr?" she asked, shaking her head; "Can' say Ah was raised tha' way. Ah was taught t' use 'em when Ah had to, ahn' tha' Ah wasn't uh monsta. Buh Ah stay humble 'bout 'em..." her voice trailed off for a moment; "Nice though, tha' ya have tha' pride about ya. Not maneh do these days..."

It was true. There were still mutants signing up for "the cure", which seemed redundant to Ada. If something was natural, it would take a natural thing to kill it off, not something manmade. The cure might have been from a mutant, but it just didn't seem logical it could kill off another mutant's powers.

But science never was her strong point, and Ada dropped the thought.

"Wanna go see sommit else?" she offered, giving Pietro a small smile as she stood up straight.

The motion caused her back to twinge but she kept it hidden; "Tha lion's supposed t' be awake bah now..." she added, as if it were the selling line.

Pietro gave a slight smile at the sound of his father's name. The world had heard of him by now, if they already hadn't heard of him because of his escapades at the Statue of Liberty or his escape from prison. Pietro had bought every article about him, to see if any of it could add up to a location, but nothing did.

He wondered how he should answer that question. "Oh they would have gotten along," he said after a second. He figured it should sufice, afterall, he couldn't go around telling everyone he met, mutant or not, that Magneto was his father.

"Yeah alright," he said, at the idea of going to see another exibit. He looked at the polar bears one more time. Then turned and followed her toward the lion exibit. "So, do you live here or are you just visiting?" he asked her as they walked along.

"Ahm jus' visitin'," Ada replied, holding her hands clasped together in front as she walked.

They reached the lion exhibit, Ada leaning against the railing like she had done before. She watched the lions prowl about, noting there was one male and three female. One lioness paced back and forth to one end of the enclosure, growling occasionally, her lip curled up to bear ivory teeth.

It was easy to tell wild animals apart from others.

Ada thought for a moment about what Pietro had said about his father, but didn't think on it for long. If that's what Pietro wanted to tell her, then that's what she'd hear.

"Do yew live here?" she asked him; "In New Yohk City, Ah mean."

Pietro saw no problem in revealing his current lifestyle. Afterall, she was only asking him what he asked her, so he should answer his own question. "Well, me and my sister are looking for out dad, he's been missing for a while, so we are traveling with whatever news we hear," he said.

He still left out the identity of that father, since most people didn't say there father's names, since no one would know them if they did anyway. He looked at the lions, they weren't moving all that much, except one lioness. But then, it wasn't like they had much to get excited about in that cage.

"Ahm sorreh t' hear tha', Pietro," Ada said, and she meant it.

Ada's father was no diamond in the rough, but he had never truly abandoned her. The only time he'd acted against her interests was when she revealed what she was, and he panicked. But now, he was warming up to the idea of her being a mutant, being "abnormal". He had never abandoned her, though, and if he had, Ada knew she'd be a worse off person.

When Pietro mentioned he had a sister, Ada was quiet still, a little angrier than she'd been when she first learned of Pietro's father's upheavel. It never failed for more than just one person to suffer, whenever a parent left. She wondered if Pietro's sibling was younger or older, if she was strong or not, a mutant or human. But these questions she kept to herself. She wasn't expecting answers for them, anyway. Not now, at least.

Ada looked back at the lioness; "Ya wandah whah she paces?" she asked, though it was more statement then question; "Et's lihke she thinks she's just eventually make tha wall jump outta tha way..."

The lioness reminded her of a mutant she'd watched fight, back at ALcatraz, before she'd been injured. The girl had fought with such a raw strength, though she was cornered in the end by others... Meg never knew if she got away.

Her back gave another twinge, and this time, she visibly winced.

Pietro didn't respond to her saying she was sad for him. He didn't like the pity of others all that much, but he guessed he should have expected it when he had said what he did. His dad had no right to do what he did, and he was sure that would be clear when they found him. He would have a lot of explaining. They could have come with him, they were both way more powerful then some of the people credited to have followed him.

Pietro had gotten out a "why" before she explained the lioness' feelings. He could probably have guessed that. He had no real pity for the animal. As long as evolution allowed one animal to capture another, it seemed fine to him to do what it wishes. Besides, it wasn't like it was in prison, it was in a safe haven, it had no obligations, no survival of the fittest.

But, on the other hand, Pietro couldn't think what it would be like to not be able to run wherever he wanted whenever he wanted. In the end, he guessed it was a toss up.

"Are you alright?" he asked, seeing her twitch visibly and coming back from his thoughts.

Ada nodded, giving him a small smile; "Mah back was hurt inna fight," she explained briefly; "Buh, it's a price foh freedom, Ah suppose..."

His worry might have been curiosity, so she did not go into any more detail. Nevermind it hurt like hell, and she constantly worried about losing the feeling in her legs. No, nevermind that. At least she was alive, watching a lioness pace back and forth, somehow feeling the same. Somehow caged, in a home that seemed real, but couldn't be because it wasa farce, a ruse. Biding her time, waiting for an opening that would never come...

"So, Ahn' Ahm just curious," Ada said; "Buh whur do ya stand when et comes to are... 'abnormality'?"

Pietro wondered about what kind of fight she was in. But then, he didn't have the pleasure of knowing her powers, like she knew his. Which was fine, not everyone should go around telling people all of there powers and therefore their weaknesses. But Pietro had no problem with doing it himself to show off.

He would have to ask her later, since her next question took up some thought on its own. Her accent made talking a little hard, but he knew what she had said.

"I think that mutants are the next step in evolution and not some fluke. But, I wouldn't go as far as my..." he cut himself off from saying dad, "some people would and that they should serve us and all that. But, I'm not one to just sit back and let them take our rights either," he said, which pretty much covered it.

Meg nodded, watching him out of the corner of her eye. She'd wondered if he'd meant to say "father". Pietro had been avoiding the word, or the mentioning of him. But, she took this as to mean it was a tender subject. Ada respected that, because she understood tender subjects since she had her own.

She wasn't growing bored of watching the lioness, but the zoo was supposedly a must-see and she wanted to know why. "Ahm gonna move on," she said, "Wanna come, o' watch the lion pace 'er way t' China?" a small smile, all she could offer for humor's sake.

She'd come alone, she could leave alone, but company was always appriciated. Besides, Pietro was someone she enjoyed being around. Not that he spoke too much or too little, but he left gaps she had to fill, or leave empty for later.

Pietro thought about her propostion. He had a good amount of time still, so he figured that no matter where they went he could be back to his current lodging before the next day. It was kind of weird, how he had gotten to want to be around someone in such a short period of time. He figured if it was night he would have made excuses in his head to go.

"Yeah alright I'm come with you, but I think its only fair you answer your own question," he said, since she had asked him to say his views he should know hers.

Ada smirked as they started walking, not sure how to sum up how she felt. She was from a human home, a southern town, and a mutant. Those three factors weighed down heavily on her opinions. She'd only fought to keep from being banned from home, from being cured, bost mostly, from being subjected to conformity. Ada got enough of that when she was down on the farm.

"Ah suppose Ah dunno, realleh," she said, looking up at the sky for a moment; "Ah mean, Ah know we ain't freaks. Ah also know weh ain't the future leadahs o' society. Ahm just out t' fight ignorance, Ah suppose," she said, looking at him; "Tha's what's got meh up here ahn' not down in Georgia, after all, the fightin'..." She looked away, asking; "Yew evah fight?"

She'd been cuirious since she'd met him. Most mutants she knew of had had some envolvement one way or the other. Pietro seemed clean-cut but strong-willed. He probably hadn, but there was no sense in filling in the blanks before they had a shot at being filled.

Pietro thought about the best way to say what he wanted to say. He didn't want to just say he had never fought for mutant rights, since any mutant who was in America should have tried to help out somehow. But, he wasn't in America, he was still in Europe until recently.

"Well, you see, and this is hard for me to say, but I think if your going to let me stick with you you should know this. My father left our family in Europe to come here and band together people for his cause. My dad is the former Magneto," he said, wondering what she would think.

Chances were she had an extreme opinion, either for or against him. No one seemed to be in the middle of that sort of thing. If people had seen pictures of Mangneto in his younger years, they would know how much Pietro looked like him, almost a photo himself and they would probably line up to follow him or to cure him along side his father.

Ada was a little surprised by his confession, looking at him. She couldn't exactly place the young man before her with the now human-mutant's rights crusader. But, sometimes family lines drew thin. She barely looked like her mother, after all. She drew her eyes away.

"Wehl, Tha'd explain why yew've been avoidin' the wurhd 'father'," she said finally, then she added; "Why would that change mah opinion of yew? Yur Pietro, not Magneto."

Her opinion of Magneto was rather slant. She saw him first as a leader, second as a man. Magneto had the drive to do what he was right. His only folly was how he chose to prove his opinion to be the right one. She viewed him as misunderstood mostly. She'd remembered when she'd first heard him speak, when he said "I say we are the cure". He had a point, mutants didn't have to hide, they shouldn't have to fight for rights already their's to claim. It was only how he saw humans as subserviant that she had a major problem with.

Pietro couldn't help but be suprised. Most people knew inside that a person and there family weren't the same, but few sounded as sincere as Ada did. Which definetly said something about her character. Pietro wondered if she was just a good lier, but then, that didn't change his position, she hadn't told him to leave, so he continued with her.

"Thats incredable, you know," he said after a second, "most people would have turned me away or asked me to bring them to him," he said, even though he couldn't do the latter, some would still ask.

"So anyway, where are we going?" he asked.

"Wehl people're jus' stupid," Ada said bluntly, not having any other way to say how she felt. She shrugged then at his question; "Ah dunno... Ah always wan'ed t' see a giraffe," she said with a small smile; "Know whur it's at?"

She'd just been walking around blindly, just content watching her surroundings, but when he said what she had said was "incredible", she was a little surprised. She'd only been honest, why was that surprising? Did people lie a lot aroudn Pietro? Ada was taught Lying was as bad as Murder, and since she'd also been taught both sent you to hell, she'd been quick to stay away from both. But now she was older, and had different opinions, she still told the truth. It just kept things less grey, and more black and white.

So she resigned herself to waiting for his reply.

Pietro looked around, figuring it would be hard to miss a giraffe, but didn't see it. A good amount of people were here, some looked at him, most probably figured his white hair was dyed, but it was actually natural.

"No, but there might be a map around here somewhere," he said. He wondered for a moment how much of your personality you got from your raising and how much was inbred in you. Because circumstances definetly shaped you, but there had to be reason why you took things the way you did and how it affected you long term. He guessed it probably took a bit of both to be a really good person, but then, good was determined by other people and the basic principles of being a good person were doing the right thing no matter what everyone thought.

Philosphy must be a crazy class... he thought as he came back to the real world.

Ada glanced at him, then around at the steadily growing crowds. She wasn't much of a crowd person, never really had been. Her town was small. Not 100-people small, but small enough to where you knew mostly everyone you saw by atleast their surname.

She stepped closer to Pietro as a child rushed by, caught off guard, but quickly took a step away as if nothing had happened. Finally, and with relief, she spied a map, and said; "Thur's one," to her companion before making her way over.

Twice Ada was compelled to bolt, once when another pack of children ran by her, and another when a man brushed past her. She never understood why people could be so rude, and why "excuse me" was such a hard phrase to some. Ada tried to be even more polite as she finally reached the map.

Ada smiled to herself once finding the giraffe's enclosure on the map. Then, she frowned. It was on the other side of the zoo.

Pietro walked along side her and looked at the map. That was pretty disapoitning. If he had been alone, he would have just zipped over there, worse casanario would be people get afraid of him and leave. At this point, he wasn't sure that was such a bad thing...

"So, want to start heading over there?" he asked, figuring they might as well get going if thats where they were heading.

Yeah, buh Ah got anothah way of gettin' thur," Ada said, absently taking his hand as she threaded through the crowds.

It was annoying, all the people. There just wasn't any space and Ada didn't much like it. She couldn't figure out what could be so good about six million people crammed into a nine-mile radius. But, someone must like it. Six Million someones...

She led Pietro to behind a maintenence building, and looked at him with a smirk.

"Do me a favah, ahn' hold ya breath..." she told him. He had to, anyway. This way, she could let him know just exactly what she could do, and it'd get them there in a mere second. As she spoke, her skin picked up a faint glow, her grey eyes alight as if they had lives of their own.

Pietro wondered if he'd get to see her powers, since he didn't know of any other way one could get there faster. He followed her behind the maintence building. When they got they got there he looked at her, figuring he had been right.

"Alright," he said as he held his breath. He wondered what exactly was going to happen here. But, no way to find that out until it happened.

Pietro watched her carefully as she started up the teleportation or... whatever it was. Even after what happened next, he still wasn't sure what to call it.

The feeling was really weird. No matter how fast he went, he never had fealt weightless before. And he didn't know how he fealt about it. In fact, during the time it took place, which wasn't the long, his thoughts weren't the same.

"Well, thats one way to travel," he joked as he fealt himself full again, for moment, he fealt pretty fat, but he regained his senses and all was back to normal.

"So, ready to get to the giraffes?" he asked.

Ada gave him a small smile; "Yeah, et gets meh frohm A t' B... Sure, let's go!"

She hurried off then, going around the fencing and letting out a little coo of surprise as she saw the giraffe. It was walking across the enclosure, it's long legs carrying it gracefully, neck swaying slightly with the movement. The spots... Ada had never seen an animal like a girafee, she doubted there was one like it. Up until that moment, the tallest animal she'd ever seen was a Clydesdale horse that stood nearly twenty hands high.

"It's crazy..." she mumbled, her eyes still wide; "How et luhks..."

She was probably coming off as crazy, and this made her sober; "Ah nevah seen one afore," she added, glancing at Pietro before again looking at the giraffe; "Fahm life ain't informative 'bout the whurld..."

Pietro returned her smile. This was the first time in a long time he had spent any extended time with another person besides Wanda, by choice.

He followed her to the giraffe. "My first time seeing one too," he said, since they weren't really natives of any of the European countries he had been to. It was even taller in person, which definetly said something. HE had always been under the impression that something like that would walk clumsily or something, but it was quite the opposite.

Ada was quiet, nodding as he spoke as she watched the animal. Then, she frowned a little, a small tug downward on her liips, nothing more. The animal before was probably blissfully ignorant it was an attraction. It was happy as it was, living out its days like it was still in Africa.

Then, she relaxed a bit. First she was envious of children, now an overgrown goat. This caused her to laugh quietly, which she muffled more by covering her mouth with her thin, pianist hands. She calmed quickly though, knowing that once again, she might be coming off as crazy. But it was fine. She'd explain herself if she needed to.

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How's THAT for length? Lmao. I wonder how many people will actually finish this chapter. Review? Pwease? Again I apologize that it took so long, but I'm not saying it won't happen again. We're busy peoples, but no worries I have at least four chapters in stock and am going to try and update at least once a week from now on.


	7. Notificaiton

Authors Note: I havn't updated in forever and most of you have probably realized that I'm not gonna be able to do that a whole lot. I've created a Readers Corner on the actual Zeal website; just for you guys. You'll be able to read any part of the story you want, follow a particular character or several characters and review&discuss it with other readers and a few of the members the write for the characters.

Here's the link: http:// z3. invisionfree. com/ Zeal/ index. php?

Make sure to delete spaces, then scroll down to the bottom and you'll spot the Readers Corner. Check out the Reader Register and be on your marry way once an admin sets your account to view the story part of the board. Hope you guys like this idea. 


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